The Grafton Tigers AFL side has reinforced its position at the top of the North Coast AFL ladder with a gripping round 11 victory over the 2nd placed Port Macquarie Magpies on neutral territory at Macksville on Saturday 7th July.
As anticipated, it was a close and hard fought battle between the 2011 grand finalist’s, with the Tigers holding off a late charge from the Magpies to win by 11 points.
Grafton are now clear by 2 wins at the top of the table with 4 rounds left to play that includes a bye for the reigning premiers.
Missing no less than 5 regular players from its senior squad, the Tigers knew they had to start strongly against the Magpies, and that’s exactly what they did, opening their scoring within the first 30 seconds with a goal to Chris Holder off a Ronald Davis feed from the middle, the Tigers then went on to add another 2 goals from Lee Anderson and Dan Zacek before their opponents could gain their composure and trouble the scorers with goals from Matt Newton and Damon Munt.
By the end of the first term, Holder and Anderson had 2 majors each, Zacek and Rod Newman had also added a single goal to allow the Tigers to race out to a 38 to 19 lead and look very threating to run away with the game.
Port Macquarie needed to attempt to swing the momentum in the second term to give them a chance to get into the match, and to their credit, they did, using the flanks to find enough space to get the ball into the Grafton defensive zone and stop the Tigers midfield from dominating possession.
With the Tigers scoring 2 goals through Anderson and Newman and the Magpies scoring 2 from Newton and Greg Dean, the Tigers still retained a 19 point lead at half time with the scores at 54 to 35.
The match continued in the third quarter with both sides evenly contesting the football and going toe to toe in the middle, neither side able to gain an edge on their opponents as both Grafton and Port had scored 3 goals apiece, another 2 to Anderson and a single to Zacek for Grafton, while Port had added majors from Jesse Schmit, Matt Lill and Troy Kelly, however with 3 minutes remaining in the quarter, the Tigers managed to snare a late goal off the boot of Adi Campbell to extend their lead to 26.
It was do or die for the Magpies if the final term and they hit the park with all guns blazing, closing to the gap with 2 quick goals to Lill and putting the Tigers under enormous pressure, some dubious decisions from the umpires against Grafton saw the frustration show and key midfielder Sam Morrision being sent off for questioning a decision saw a hole open up for the Magpies to attack.
Momentum swung in favour of Port Macquarie who scored again off the boot of Newton and the Tigers defence began to show signs of fatigue, with the Magpies on the attack, the Tigers needed to dig deep to defend their lead, a brilliant solo effort from Sean Duroux kept the Tigers score ticking over and some inaccuracy for the Magpies cost them dearly but with Morrison returning with 5 left on the clock, Grafton needed one last attacking play to put the win out of the Magpies reach.
It came from Sean Duroux, the fast midfielder finding possession in the middle to run through 3 Magpies players and send the ball deep into the Tigers forward 50, Andersons was unable to mark and the ball and the ensuing scrimmage was dominated by Magpies defenders, but the ball managed to bounce clear into the hands of Morrison 40 metres out from the sticks who applied a left foot snap to goal for Grafton and seal the victory.
Final Scores:
Grafton Tigers: 14.11 (95)
Port Magpies: 12.12 (84)
Goal Kickers:
Grafton: L. Anderson 5, R. Newman 2, D. Zacek 2, C. Holder 2, A. Campbell , S. Duroux , S. Morrison
Port Macquarie: M. Lill 3, M. Newton 3, T. Kelly 2, J. Schmidt , D. Munt , G. Dean , K. Lynch
Reserve grade:
Port Magpies: 10.6 (66)
Grafton Tigers: 10.1 (61)
Next week see’s the Tigers play their final game at home for 2012 when they host the 4th placed North Coffs Kangaroos at Ellem Oval.
Last Modified on 08/07/2012 11:52