FIVE unanswered East Point goals in five explosive minutes early in the third quarter paved the way for the Kangaroos to blast their way past Darley by 25 points at Darley Park on Saturday, and into the coveted third place on the BFL ladder.
The Kangaroos fought back from a 16-point half-time deficit to win 15.17 (107) to 12.10 (82) and send Darley to the second elimination final against North Ballarat this Sunday.
The opening term started at a furious finals-like pace with both teams slotting through early majors.
For the Devils, Dane Grenfell was influential up forward, but could only convert one of three gettable shots.
At the other end of the ground, East Point spearhead Dan Jordan was having similar troubles but the Kangaroos still held a 14-point quarter-time lead.
Everything then clicked for Darley in the second quarter.
The Devils’ defenders restricted East Point to a solitary goal, while Darley’s on-ball brigade provided a bundle of scoring opportunities, which turned into five unanswered goals.
However, the next 30 minutes of football belonged to East Point.
A goal to forward Brad Whittaker 30 seconds after the opening ruck contest was quickly followed by a bombardment of successful shots at goal by Simon Mitchellhill, David Brady, and Matt Bilton. Despite a brief rally (and two goals), two late majors from Jordan capped off an exhilarating eight-goal turnaround for the Kangaroos, and a 19-point three-quarter-time lead.
The message from the Darley huddle at the long break was “don’t panic”, while for East Point it was a demand for a greater defensive effort from his wingers and half-
forwards.
After Bilton snapped truly to give the Kangaroos a 25-point lead, the Darley supporters were given a glimmer of hope when the Dane Grenfell converted a rolling snap into his fifth goal of the match.
But Devils’ hearts were broken minutes later, when East Point’s Brad Whittaker turned a misdirected Devil backline pass into a match sealing four goal victory for the Kangaroos.
“East Point imposed themselves on us today,” Darley coach Rod MacPherson said.
“You either intimidate or get intimidated, and East really came to play today, and we were second to the ball.”
-Ballarat Courier
Go to meltonweekly.com.au for more action shots from the Darley-East Point match.
