A strong team performance from Darley has seen it lock in the first spot in the Ballarat Football League grand final.
The Devils produced four quarters of solid football against the Sunbury Lions in Saturday’s semi final to win through to the final game of the season.
The scoreboard showed the margin to be just one point at the final break, but with the wind in the final quarter the match was the Devils to win.
They finished with seven final quarter goals to run away with a 15.10 (100)-9.8 (62) win.
Devils coach Dan Jordan said the group had worked hard to get into the decider.
“The boys were pretty massive and executed for four good quarters,” he said. “They stuck to the task and got the rewards and will go again.
“They have put in a good body of work going back to the pre-season. They looked at where they needed to improve and we’ve now given ourselves another crack at it.”
Jordan said the game was tight for most of the match with the Lions keeping the pressure on.
The Lions led early with the breeze before the Devils took a 12 point lead into half time.
“In the first quarter they kicked two goals in the last few minutes so the scoreboard was flattering,” he said.
“In the second quarter we went to work and attacked and hit the scoreboard and defended really well.”
The Lions failed to use the breeze to their full advantage in the third quarter.
It was just one point at the final break.
With the breeze in their favour, Jordan said they knew they were poised to take the match if they executed well in the final quarter.
“The message was not to go into our shell,” Jordan said. “The game was still there to be won and we had to still be confident to take the game.
“We knew that Sunbury would come at us very hard. We had to be resolved in defence.”
The Devils did that as they kicked seven goals to one to claim the win.
Will Johnson ended up with five goals to be the main goalkicker on the ground.
Mitchell Gardiner, Mace Cousins and Johnson were named their best.
Jordan said he didn’t think they had a standout across the game with everyone stepping up and playing a role.
“Our defence led by Billy Myers, Mace Cousins and Mitchell Gardiner led from the front,” he said.
“The midfield battle was really competitive. Nick Hind, Brett Bewley and Luther Baker were really good and Will Johnson up forward with five goals making the most of his opportunities.”
The Devils now get the week off before the grand final.
After a tough month of football, Jordan said it would be good to freshen up the group ahead of the biggest challenge.
