Following the spirited effort by Parkdale in our earlier encounter, the emphasis was on not taking our opponent’s position at the lower end of the ladder as a given victory for the ‘Fields. In the first minute and a half we looked as though we really meant business kicking to the southern end but some sloppy play meant a number of opportunities were lost. Matt Sundberg had three possessions within a minute as if he needed to make up for the absence of his younger sibling. By the four and a half minute mark Parkdale had gained some control of the situation with successive goals from strong leads and fine delivery from their running players. Although our rucks were winning the taps we were not taking advantage until Carbs swept through the middle and centered perfectly to the waiting Shaun Mezz who duly converted. We were still not happy with the accountability of our boys and this was confirmed when Parkdale drilled their third to announce they had really come to play.

Some more sloppy play ensued before Ben Price, patrolling the extremities of the ground found Andy Lawson who gathered, knocked forward and followed up and sending it to Gav Colosimo. Gav provided further evidence of his versatility by running on and kicking truly. Maybe we were starting to make it happen as our hard working skipper delivered to Hammo in traffic whose great handball enabled Fordy to covert. Wij was on fire and again used Hammo as the vehicle to pinpoint Darcy Daly and Darc made no mistake for the final score of the quarter – our advantage 4.1 to 3.4.

 With Fran McArdle picking up the pace in his first senior game we started strongly and Andy Lawson’s hard work allowed him to give to Carbs who centered to Hammo to put us further in front. Parkdale answered promptly before Wij won it out of the middle and Delly finished on the end of it and made no mistake from the angle. Again Parkdale answered and we were not placing enough pressure on the Vultures’ ball carriers in complete contrast with our efforts against Beaumaris! In the words of the famous professor; why is this so? Redressing the balance of the fortunes of the game to date, the experienced Macgeorge, Parkdale’s veteran, inadvertently delivered to Ben Price. Ben made no mistake from the angle to stretch it out again to a 2 goal advantage. The habit of the Parkdale response continued and they reduced the margin before Wij and Fordy combined to find Carbs for his first major for the day. At the 27 minute mark the skipper worked it again, Footie weighing in and Mezz took the offering for his second goal after a very clever mark. Half time 9.3 to 6.6 and it was a tight contest and we needed to lift our rate.

The first centre square contest was lost in the third quarter, a Vulture’s goal the result. The combination of Carbs, with a superb centring ball to Slevo gave our goal supremo the opportunity to commence his tally sheet and he obliged. We were better in the air around the ground but just didn’t get it right consistently enough with our foot skills to make the opposition pay and once again, the leading Parkdale forwards converted. Big Mezz, having controlled most of the aerial contest utilised Maysie who offered the opportunity to Carbs to May the opposition pay; he did! Shortly after Carbs and Delly forced the ball forward and Mezz decided to reveal his soccer skills with one off the ground; maybe this was the start of the surge? Uncharacteristic errors in defence by our boys spoiled the plan and although a doubtful decision went Parkdale’s way, they took the opening and then followed up with another goal; Parkdale were right back in it. Sam Wood showed some of his distinctive dash and identified Delly who gave off to Carbs and Darcy was on the end of it and made no mistake with a long goal. Footie upped his intensity and presented Slevo with a chance, result, Slevo’s second to stretch it to 4 goals up. Another opposition goal reduced the lead (14.5 to 11.8) and at orange time we need to recall the near disaster of our previous encounter with the sea-siders.

We needed to look for running players to deliver to rather than stationery objects but in the meantime, Parkdale kicked the first goal in the final term. The intensity then went up a notch and a pure display of roving to the spill from Maysie after Fordy deliver to the hot spot meant that Maysie slotted one in a timely reply. Parkdale placed more pressure on us and it was very tight in our back half for a time before Delly relieved the pressure sending it forward and Carbs handballed off to the running Colosimo and he recorded his second for the day. Fordy made it two majors for the day with a great gather and the marking of Mezz, Nelly, Matt Sunny and Darc to name but a few was a telling factor in our favour. So was the work rate of Wij, Carbs, Maysie, Jonesy and Laws. It was a foregone conclusion by this time even though Parkdale scored a further goal before Maysie got on the end of handballs from Wij and Fordy to leave the final score on 18.9 to 13.11; not our most convincing win but one where the boys had to work hard all game while recognising that no game is easy in the relatively even competition. Forward Coach, Dale Lawrence, is no doubt pleased with the ability to display multiple goal scorers.

We would expect to get a couple back for the next round and again, the reserves had produced some good performances by players eager to return or receive their first chance of senior selection. There has not been one easy selection evening to date this season and, for a side clear on top of the ladder, probably an unusual but very healthy precursor.

Better players in no particular order – Lawson, Daly, C Hammond, Colosimo, Nelson, Meredith, Carboni, Widjaja, Strain, Liddell, C May, M Sundberg.