By Tara Murray
Bacchus Marsh showed some of its best form as it returned to the winners’ list in the Ballarat Football League.
After dropping three straight matches, including two they could have quite easily won, the Cobras were left with a must-win match against the Sunbury Lions.
It looked set to be a challenge for the Cobras as the Lions were fighting to move back into the top six.
The Cobras were up for it and the game was over at quarter-time after they came out firing for a six-goals-to-nil first quarter.
The Cobras maintained that momentum for a final score of 15.8 (98)-6.12 (48).
Cobras coach Travis Hodgson said the big difference from the past couple of weeks was that the players had taken their chances.
“Today we created opportunities early and worked really hard and we took some, which made a difference,” he said.
“I thought we played a little bit better than we had been, I sort of saw it coming.
“Clarke Oval provides plenty of space and I thought we moved the ball better than we had most of the year and that helped.
“We’ve been a little bit too predictable with how we’ve moved the footy, today we just swung it around a bit more and used it better.”
Hodgson said clean ball work was another standout.
Jake Owen kicked four goals for the Cobras, while Ben Speight, Aaron Willitts and Hamish Coulton all kicked three each.
Hodgson said they had a number of standouts across the board.
He said Nicholas Stuhldreier, Jacob and Matthew Chisari, Logan Blundell, Billy Griffiths and Dylon Bishop all played well.
The one negative for the Cobras was a hamstring injury to Jacob Chisari in the last 10 minutes.
The win keeps the Cobras in third spot, with an opportunity to finish top two and earn a double chance.
The Cobras face Sebastopol and Melton, which are both still in the finals’ hunt, in the run home.
Hodgson said he hoped Saturday’s performance was the start of something.
“It’s one of those things, we had come back to the pack and had we lost today, we would have dropped to four or five.
“Half way though the year there was a huge expectation on us and all the pressure that came with it. Maybe we didn’t handle it as well as we would have liked.
“If you looked at last year, we were on top of the world at this part of the year and then the season unravelled quickly in the space of two weeks.
“Fortunately for us we’ve been through that period and with a bit of luck, hopefully we’ll play our best footy when it counts most.”
Another side closer to sealing a finals berth is Melton. Looking to play finals for the first time in a number of years, the Bloods defeated Ballarat, 13.8 (86)-8.10 (58).
Mark Orr and Braedan Kight kicked four goals each for the Bloods.
The Bloods are two games and percentage clear of seventh, with two games remaining.
