JUDGED on their respective ladder positions, Darley would have appeared to have little to worry about from Saturday’s trip to Melton, especially after beating premiership fancy Sunbury the previous weekend.
However, the Devils were happy and somewhat relieved to emerge from Saturday’s match at MacPherson Park with a seven-goal win.
Coach Rod MacPherson had declared it was a danger game and the eventual margin did not do justice to the contest.
Click on the image below for our gallery of the big game.
Melton applied physical and scoreboard pressure to its long-time rival before the Devils ultimately prevailed.
“We’ve been up for a month against the good top-end teams and, with Melton knocking us off in our second game, I thought it might be a danger game,” MacPherson said.
“I felt like I had to coach pretty hard this week.
“I was unsure about the players’ preparation against Melton after what happened last week.
“We jumped out and kicked four goals in the first 15 minutes, before Melton struck back.
“At half-time I was concerned how we would react for the first time being hunted rather than playing a team above us.
“There’s also a lot of background between these two clubs, with Jarrod Edwards and Jake [Edwards] being former players, Brendan Porter, and of course Saul Grenfell being an ex-captain.
“It gave Melton plenty of reason to play well.
“They put a lot of physical pressure on us throughout.”
Less than two goals separated the teams at half-time.
Darley had the better of the third by two goals and then finished with three to zero in the final quarter.
The match was willing too, with Grenfell in particular getting plenty of attention from his former teammates.
Porter kicked five goals for the Devils, while Jake Edwards was outstanding with four goals, and Chris McGill was impressive after a long-term hamstring injury.
Jarrod Edwards was also among Darley’s better players as was Brad Inglis, who entered the match under an injury cloud.
Dillon Sharp has continued his fine season after crossing to Melton from Sunbury at the start of this season, while Josh Carmen kicked three goals.
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