Down and out at half-time, Darley rallied to pull off one of its
great wins on Sunday as it rolled East Point by eight points in the Ballarat Football League second elimination final.
The Devils were 35 points down at half-time but left Eastern Oval 14.15 (99) to 13.13 (91) winners.
THE REACTION: Darley’s ‘best win in 40 years’
The win puts Darley into a first semi-final against North Ballarat
City after the minor premier suffered a shock 41-point loss to Redan in
Saturday’s qualifying final.
It was a different Darley side that took to Eastern Oval in the second half after kicking 3.7 to East Point’s 9.6 in the first.
A blistering four goals in the first six minutes of the quarter saw
the buffer eradicated almost immediately, and East Point stood
shell-shocked as to what was unfolding.
A steadying goal from Brent Fitzpatrick helped curb the flood of
goals, but when a would-be 50-metre penalty to East Point was reversed
on the spot, Jake Edwards took every opportunity and goaled for the black and white.
The visitors entered the final break just two points in front,
with Dane Grenfell kicking his fourth of five goals late in the quarter.
East Point’s Alex Bartlett was gifted a goal to put his side back
in front at the eight-minute mark of the last, after his team was
awarded a 50-metre penalty against the Darley coaching box.
Uncharacteristic lapses would come back to hurt the Roos in the end.
Coach Dan Jordan kicked into the man on the mark from 30 metres
out in the last term, before snapping another ball out of bounds on the
full.
As the game went into time on, Grenfell seemed to wrap up the match when he snapped his fifth to put his side 14 points up.
East responded almost immediately with a goal from Brad Whittaker
after a strong pack mark. But when Jake Edwards goaled at the 28-minute
mark, the result was secure.
Earlier in the match, it seemed as though East Point was in cruise control.
Five of the first six goals went the way of the red, white and
blue and spearhead Jordan had booted three goals by half-time, looking
in dangerous form. However, he would not slot another major for the rest
of the match and East Point would only kick another four goals in
total.
