Tezzas Tiger News Vs Belgrave G’Day Footy Fans, Well, with a week of constant rain and winds preceding it, match day Saturday promised much of the same and that promise was fulfilled. The Under Eighteens match had its share of rain but the Reserves really felt the wrath of the weather gods in the second quarter when a heavier downpour turned into an equally heavy hail storm that also affected the B Grade netball match. But then that was just about it for precipitation and the rest of the day the tempest was stilled. Our opponent for this match to be played at The Dome was Belgrave, our next-door neighbours and this has always been a must-win match, especially today with the Frank Harris Trophy on the line. In this life there are many disasters: being dumped by your teenage heart-throb; thinking that you have the five Tattslotto numbers before finding out next day that you forgot to submit your entry; but the very worst disaster that an upright Upwey citizen can endure is to lose a football match to Belgrave. Although there was a bit of water pooling around the clubhouse flank, the ground was still in reasonably good condition despite the heavens’ downpour that had preceded the Seniors match. The Seniors matchgot off to a reasonably even start with neither team able to make the early break although Belgrave did seem to be performing slightly the better at this early stage and they underlined that early advantage when they claimed the opening goal of the match and followed that up with a second. Upwey now gradually began to show a bit more but although they were able to mount some attacking moves, a behind was their only reward. At the other end of the ground however Belgrave put through their third goal for the quarter to establish a strong early lead. Finally, a couple of minutes later, Upwey managed to open their goal-scoring account but Belgrave were unfazed by this and kicked their fourth goal for this first quarter to go into the first break with a sixteen point lead, a lead gained by playing much better football than Upwey. Upwey kicked the opening goal of the second quarter right from the start to give our Footy Fans some fresh hope and although the next ten minutes or so saw only a behind to each team scored, still Belgrave was continuing to look a little the better organised team. A tenth minute goal to Belgrave was followed within minutes by a successful reply from Upwey but Belgrave quickly did likewise as they refused to allow Upwey to close the scoring gap and although Upwey did manage a third goal for the quarter a little later, Belgrave responded with two of their own to increase their lead at the half-way mark to twenty-two points. Certainly not an overwhelming lead but simply put, Upwey just did not seem to be playing well enough to bridge that gap against a better looking opponent. The third quarter was a fairly negative experience all round as Upwey just could not get to grips with Belgrave who continued to look the better outfit even if the scoring activity for both teams dried up somewhat with Belgrave scoring a goal four minutes in but that would prove to be the only major score to either team for the whole of the quarter. Upwey did have a few chances late in the term but failed to make the most of them with the result that they had to be content with just two behinds in total so that, with just one quarter of football left, Belgrave led by twenty-eight points and looked all over the winner as they were still playing much better than Upwey. Belgrave led off the final term with a trio of behinds before scoring a goal which was replied to by Upwey in kind but now, with half of this final play period now completed, it was really a matter of seeing things out to their obvious conclusion with a win to a Belgrave team that had played much better than Upwey. To put this result into its full stark tragedy, this was the first time that Belgrave had beaten Upwey in fourteen years and Upwey’s final score of 6.11.47 was our lowest ever YVMDFL score against Belgrave. With a loss against another lower order team last match let’s hope that this is just a passing mid-season slump that will pass soon. We still cling to second spot on the ladder but we have a number of testing matches coming up over the next few weeks and that slump had better end very soon. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 1.4.10 4.6.30 4.9.33 6.11.47 Belgrave – 4.2.26 8.4.52 9.7.61 11.11.77 Best: Sam Gooley, Nathan Wale-Buxton, Liam Beacom, David van Hoorn, Kyle Grenda. Goals: Dylan Sloane 2, Tom Robinson 2, Tom Hedge 1, Blair Sheppard 1. The Reserves were coming off a last round loss and would no doubt be keen to make up for that negative result with a win against second placed Belgrave but as the match progressed they would encounter the very worst weather conditions of the day. Upwey was playing some pretty good positive football right from the start of the match but had trouble in steering their many scoring opportunities through the goals and managed just a series of behinds. Finally, as the quarter neared its end, it was Belgrave who had a successful forward entry to score the opening goal of the match but this was really against the flow of play and it came as no surprise when Upwey regained the lead just seconds before the quarter-ending siren sounded to bring play to a temporary halt. The weather now decided to play its part in the match and the rain began to fall in earnest and as if that wasn’t enough it now began to hail with some force and the players of both teams certainly deserve our plaudits for continuing to play some reasonable football, difficult though it had now become. With everything now sodden but the players enthusiasm not yet drowned out it became a bit of a desperate struggle for possession of the ball with neither team able to make any early scoring progress until finally Belgrave, as they had done in the first quarter, gained the opening goal ot the second quarter. But Upwey was playing some intelligent football under the trying conditions and added two goals in quick succession to somewhat dampen their opponents ardour. From that point Belgrave did have much of the play but the Upwey defence stood strong and the quarter ended with Upwey holding a ten point lead. Although the rain had ceased by the time that play was resumed for the third quarter, there was still plenty of water around to make it difficult to play football with any sense of positivity and that was all too apparent in the early parts of this penultimate quarter of the match. Gradually however Upwey was beginning to assert themselves and kept up the pressure on Belgrave as they made several moves into their scoring area but could only manage behinds but they could not be long denied full points and a goal was gratefully taken as time began to run out. Upwey scored one goal and four behinds for the quarter and although that does not seem much, we need to put that into its proper perspective; Belgrave remained scoreless for the whole of this third quarter to trail Upwey now by nineteen points, a handy lead under the conditions. Belgrave threw everything that they had left into this final quarter in an effort to bridge the gap and the match became quite physical but Upwey stood firm under the increasing tough pressure to win the match. This was very good performance from Upwey as they were able to absorb everything that Belgrave could throw at them and still play some pretty good footy in quite trying conditions. Congratulations to a great Upwey stalwart in Tim Harris who played his 200th match for the Club in this game and it was no surprise that he was one of his team’s best. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 1.4.10 3.4.22 4.7.31 5.9.39 Belgrave – 1.0.6 2.0.12 2.0.12 3.2.20 Best: Will Mutschler, Tim Harris, Joel Wille, Josh McMillan, Alex Kelly. Goals: Kris O’Brien 2, Liam O’Brien 1, Robbie Huxtable 1, Alex Kelly 1. It was a very cool start to the Under Eighteens match with the temperature hovering around the five degree mark but strangely the sun, hanging low in the sky, was causing some problems for players in attempting to mark the ball. That problem would not last long as the match progressed. The defence of each team was well on top early in the first quarter as each team made every attempt to gain the early break and it was not until twelve minutes had passed that the opening score of the match was gained – a goal to Upwey. Belgrave now mounted an attack that gained them a behind, to which Upwey immediately answered in like kind. As the final minute of the quarter was reached an adroit kick off the ground resulted in Upwey’s second goal. The weather turned quite nasty as the second quarter got under way and the rain which had been threatening for some time now arrived in deadly earnest. Upwey had managed to score an early goal before the weather turned nasty and although Belgrave tried hard to match that early Upwey gain, the solid Upwey defence kept them to a bundle of behinds. Then, in a blow to Belgrave’s chances, Upwey scored a second goal for the quarter with just a couple of minutes remaining before the half-time break and so, with half the match now completed, Upwey had gained a more than handy twenty-one point lead. The rain was still falling as the match was resumed and it showed in the standard of play as players of both teams attempted to adjust to the quite wet conditions. Upwey scored a behind and then followed up that minor success with a couple of goals as the rain eased. At the other end of the ground Belgrave had been denied any scoring success as the Upwey backs were playing some fine defensive football. With just one quarter of football left Upwey now led by thirty-four points and there really seemed no way back for Belgrave. Upwey scored the opening goal of the last quarter and then proceeded to keep up the attacking pressure but for much of the time those attacks produced only the occasional behind but the team persisted and did manage to add two more goals to their score to round out the match in very good style. It had been a fine performance by the team in often difficult conditions. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 2.1.13 4.2.26 6.3.39 9.7.61 Belgrave – 0.1.1 0.5.6 0.5.5 1.7.13 Best: Mitchell Waterman, Nathan Waterman, Bailey Stimac-Wuttke, Damon Torrance, Sam Glazner. Goals: Damon Torrance 4, Nathan Waterman 2, Sam Glazner 1, Dylan Asling 1, Sebastian Shineberg 1. The Vets were at home to Croydon North on Sunday and although they were always competitive, particularly in the first two quarters, they did struggle to contain the opposition in the second half and Croydon North went on to win the match. The Vets are currently sitting in fourth spot on the ladderand their next match will be against Emerald and a win in this match will just about see them retain that fourth position and a finals berth. Scores: Upwey-Tecoma – 1.2.8 4.2.26 5.2.32 7.2.44 Croydon North – 3.2.20 7.3.45 10.6.66 13.8.86 Best: I. Atkinson, B. McNamara, T. Bush, J. Beamsley, D. Martin, G. Atkin. Goals: M. Stansfield 4, I. Paterson 1, D. Grant 1, B. McNamara 1. The A Grade netballers had a fierce struggle against Belgrave in a match that was in doubt right to the very finish. Belgrave went to a five goal lead by the end of the first quarter but Upwey pegged them back in the second term to level the scores at 29 apiece by the half-way break. Upwey pushed hard in the third quarter to take a five goal lead into the final quarter but then had to battle grimly to hold out a desperate Belgrave in the final quarter and maintain their unbeaten record by just three goals. the final scores in a most gripping match were Upwey-Tecoma 61 to Belgrave 58. Upwey’s best were Jordan Lingard, Megan Kennerley and Krista Tomlinson while the goals came from Megan Kennerley with 39 and Jordan Lingard who bagged 22 goals. The B Reserve team appeared to be well in control of their match against Belgrave after they had established a six goal advantage in the opening quarter of play and then proceeded to build on that over the next two quarters so that they had a lead of fourteen goals going into the final term. Belgrave however were far from beaten and really rose to the occasion in that last period and began to close in on the Upwey lead but Upwey managed to stave off the Belgrave challenge and eventually run our winners by seven goal. The final scores in the match were Upwey-Tecoma 42 to Belgrave 35. Best for Upwey were Ashley Graham, Simone Coviello and Cassie Lynch while the goals were scored by Jordie Elms 27 and Cassie Lynch 15. Like their footballing peers the B Reserve netballers were forced to contend with the very worst of the weather conditions as the rain and hail belted down during their match, making things extremely difficult for them. Belgrave jumped away to an early lead in the opening quarter and that team was able to build on that start as the match progressed toward its watery conclusion. The final scores were Upwey-Tecoma 11 to Belgrave 34. The best players for Upwey were Emily Dowling, Jordie Campbell and Michelle Johnston while Upwey’s goals were scored by Emily Dowling 7 and Jordie Campbell 4. Next week we are away to Mt. Evelyn, always an interesting experience, and although these are important matches for all of our teams, both football and netball, it is of particular importance to the Senior team who must get back on the winning list if they are to maintain their position high on the ladder. And so we come to the conclusion of a weekend that ended with mixed fortunes for our Club bat as always we face the future with all confidence and so until we next meet remember, the true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. See Ya, Tezza.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 00:50:34 +0000
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