Tara Murray
Diggers Rest returned to form and locked up a double chance in the Riddell District Football League on Saturday.
It had been a tough few weeks for the Burras, who uncharacteristically dropped two matches in a row, including being held goalless against Riddell.
The Burras had a bye last round giving it the chance to reset.
On Saturday, they returned to the field against Romsey with both sides focused on trying to finish in the top three.
It was a more Burras-like performance, winning 12.10 (82)-6.8 (44).
Burras coach Jamie Lobb said it was nice to bounce back in that manner.
“It has been a tough five-six weeks,” he said. “The bye came at a good time.
“We should have won against Kyneton while we put the cue in the rack against Riddell. We didn’t play at all.
“We had seven changes come back into the side that helped. It changes your structure and we were confident that we were going to play well.”
Co-coach Mitch Jensen led the inclusions for the Burras. Luke Delahey, Ryan Mullins, Brandon Sarich, Steven Fogarty and Jake Brown were among the others.
Lobb said they also had a few players like Mitchell Day and Marcus Calvaresi, who had just come back into the side and hadn’t played a lot of footy this year.
“It was nice to have them all out there,” he said.
Lobb said they set the tone during the week for how they wanted to play.
“We started the way we wanted to play,” he said. “We’d had a good week on the track.
“We controlled it for most of it. We could have been a bit more in front, but we missed some easy shots.
“We looked dangerous when we went inside 50 which was good. We doubled the inside 50s against Kyneton, but we didn’t look like scoring.”
Mitch Jensen kicked six goals in a best on ground performance. He missed several shots as well.
Justin Tenaglia did the job on Jack Jedwab in what Lobb said was a really even performance.
“We had key targets for each line and we hit those targets, so it makes it easier,” he said.
The win had the Burras in third spot.
They are equal on points with second placed Wallan, but are now a game and significant percentage ahead of Romsey in fourth, meaning they will finish third at the worst.
Lobb said the match against Romsey was an eight point game in the battle for a top three spot.
The Burras face Melton Centrals in the final round.
Lobb said they still have a few more players to come back in the next couple of weeks.
On Saturday, Centrals pushed Macedon for most of its match.
Neither side could break away with Macedon doing enough to win, 10.8 (68)-8.5 (53).
