– Click here for our picture gallery of the Sunbury v North Ballarat match.
MELTON South overcame the walk-out of key defender Leigh Burke by thrashing Sebastopol in Ballarat Football League on Saturday.
With their 26.23 (179) to 8.13 (61) victory, the Panthers (4-5) made some much-needed repairs to their percentage.
Melton South’s avenues to goal were all open and exploited with playing coach Matt Sutton kicking seven goals, best afield Simon Collis five and Anthony Cristofaro four.
After a seven-goal opening term, the Panthers led by an even 10 goals at three-quarter-time before a final term onslaught saw the home side get the four points in style with the 26.23 (179) to 8.13 (61) victory.
Dominating proceedings out of the middle, Melton South put the match on its terms early, ensuring its opponents never gained a foothold in the contest.
But for some inaccuracy during the middle stages of the match, the 26.23 (179) to 8.13 (61) scoreline could have been much worse for the visitors.
“We just had a good effort from our entire 22. We know how we can play and we’ve produced it in spurts,” Sutton said.
“But it’s about producing our best across the four quarters, and we did that today.
“I thought we led up and marked well. We went with a different forward structure today. Teams had been identifying our forward plan, so we shook it up a bit and it worked well.”
It was a stark contrast for South’s arch-rivals Melton Bloods, who suffered a 172-point hiding at the hands of East Point.
Kangaroo spearhead Dan Jordan led the rout with 13 goals on the way to his team winning 34.14 (218) to 6.10 (46).
A knee to the back added injury to insult for Melton’s Alan Hill, but word from the Melton camp after the match was that he had not suffered a long-term injury.
Darren Haby was Melton’s only multiple goal-kicker, while Ryan Davis and Jake Gleeson were best against the East Point onslaught.
In the weekend’s other match, North Ballarat City claimed outright top of the table at Sunbury’s expense, winning 14.16 (100) to 11.14 (80) at Clarke Oval. See a picture gallery of the game here.
Saturday’s games at 2.15pm this weekend pit Ballarat against Sunbury, East Point against Lake Wendouree, Melton against Sebastopol and Bacchus Marsh against North Ballarat City.
Darley hosts Redan at Darley Park from 2.15pm on Sunday, while Melton South has the bye.
— with Greg Sobey and James Taylor, Ballarat Courier
