Anthony Chiu was among the best players for Darley at the weekend. Photo: Damian Visentini
A sloppy kicking display didn’t stop Darley from grabbing the four points with victory over Melton in the Ballarat Football League on Saturday.
The Devils won 10.26 (86) to 9.7 (61) and coach Jarrod Edwards was happy even though his side was not at its best.
“It was a real positive that we got the win; it was just a little bit disappointing the way we went about it in front of goal,” he said.
“Melton are very hard to score against. They drop a lot of numbers behind the ball and at times we just played some silly footy.
“We took some long shots on goal and just had some silly ball movement … but it was good to come away with a win.”
After the two teams played out a draw earlier in the year, this match had all the signs of going down a similar path in the first quarter.
With neither team able to break away, they went into the first break locked on 15 points.
Although Darley was able to get out to almost a five-goal lead by half time, Melton rallied and closed the gap before the Devils took back control in the final term.
“We drew with Melton the first time we played them and it really shows just how much further we are now than where we were then,” Edwards said.
“We might not have got away with that win earlier in the year.”
The loss is a blow to Melton’s finals push with the Bloods now dropping to ninth on the ladder.
Darley remains in fourth.
The Devils will have a bye this week before taking on premiership favourite North Ballarat City next week.
“We’re going to pick up our training in the next couple of weeks,” Edwards said.
He expects the team will step up training to three nights a week in the lead-up to the North Ballarat City game.
“Then we will ease off until the end of the year.
“It’s really just about managing our training load and lifting that up between now and the bye because it’s hard to keep up that match fitness.
“The bye has come at a good time for us as we have a few boys who are pretty sore.”
