“Come here,” yells Beaconsfield’s Troy McDermott to the ball. “No, come here,” Narre’s Clay Peresso said back, as both wanted the leather in their clash at Kalora Park on Saturday. Smothering the ball? No, it’s squashing the man as Eagle Kris Fletcher falls on his hard to see opponent. 69561 Pictures: Donna Oates
By Mark Gullick
BERWICK stole Hampton Park’s double chance with an emphatic 95-point thumping at Edwin Flack Reserve on Saturday.
Going into the match, the Wickers’ prospects of rising from fourth-place into the top-three and the double-chance appeared slim.
However, with Beaconsfield trouncing Narre Warren at Kalora Park, and the Wickers piling on 20 goals against the Redbacks, Berwick lifted its percentage by seven, as the Magpies and Redbacks percentage took a massive hit.
By 5pm Saturday, Berwick had leapt Narre Warren and taken second-place off Hampton Park.
That stunning turn of events appeared a distant dream as Berwick held a one-point quarter-time lead.
Berwick undertook the early forward moves, but were inaccurate.
Vergim Faik, the hero of the Round 17 win over Beaconsfield, kicked the first goal with a clever kick from the pocket before Hampton Park replied via Kerem Baskaya.
Patrick Clish added the Redbacks’ second after a turnover on the half-forward flank.
Dale Robinson intercepted an errant kick and wheeled around to kick a superb goal from the pocket to regain the lead for Berwick.
It was a quarter of missed opportunities for each team with a series of dropped marks and wayward kicking.
The umpires quickly established their influence with a flurry of free-kicks.
In the second term, young gun Kristian Meredith kicked an early Berwick goal from a 50-metre penalty.
A string of five Berwick behinds was snapped by a Nathan Waite goal, and the floodgates opened.
Berwick added four further goals before Hampton Park’s Matthew Adair soccered a clever goal.
Hampton Park’s much-lauded defence was under extreme pressure and their cause wasn’t helped by poor ball movement and defective decision-making.
Nathan Page ruined any chance of a Hampton Park comeback with three quick goals in the third term as Berwick raced away with the game.
“It was a really good result,” Berwick coach Dean Rice said.
“Their game style is to try and congest it up and make it a contest, which they did to their credit in the first quarter, but once we got our running game up, it was hard for them to hold us off.”
Rice said his players were aware of the high stakes in the match.
“We spoke about how we wanted to play at the start of the day and the way it turned out, it couldn’t have been any better for us,” he said.
The Wickers added 12 second-half goals to three to run up a massive winning score.
Brett Robinson and Nathan Page tore through Hampton Park’s midfield with brilliant skill and class, while David Van Diemen held Baskaya to two goals and brilliantly trod the fine line between defence and attack.
Andrew Tuck was neat across half-back, while Nick Sear and youngster Tom Brennan were sound.
“It was terrible, to be honest,” Hampton Park coach Clint Evans said.
“Our second quarter was okay, but after that, once they got their confidence up they just ran us into the ground and their foot-skills were really good.”
Evans saw his players turn on each other and drop their discipline.
“It happens everywhere, when things start going bad, guys start to blaming everyone else except themselves,” he said.
“They don’t put any ownership on what they’re doing. That was the most disappointing thing, especially when we’ve had a pretty good year.
“There were a couple of games there that we might have won and a couple of games where we’ve been smashed but, all-in-all, it hasn’t been a bad year.”
The Redbacks lost the second-chance with the heavy defeat.
“In the end, we’ve had two big defeats (against Berwick on the weekend and against Pakenham – by 63 points – in round 10) and we’ve probably had the easier draw,” Evans said.
“After the weekend’s defeat, we probably didn’t deserve to be in there (the top three).”
Despite the result, Hampton Park is returning to the finals after a lengthy absence, an excellent result for Evans in his first year at Robert Booth Reserve.
“We set our goals at the start of the year and with the run that we had, I always thought we could make the finals,” he said.
“Unfortunately, with the situation we were in, the boys had one eye on next week. If we could win or just get done, then we’d make the top three.
“That did play a hand in it and we were nervous and we didn’t take our opportunities. It’s good to be there (in the finals), but it was disappointing.”
Midfielder Linden Fredericks and defender Luke Nunan battled hard for the vanquished, while Kain Baskaya played well in defence and later as an onballer.
Veterans Matthew Shorey and Chris Hussey battled in a tough cause.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:NARRE WARREN v BEACONSFIELD
ELEVEN goals between Troy McDermott and Andrew Williams upset Narre Warren at Kalora Park.
The Magpies’ defence had few answers for the duo.
McDermott, a Beaconsfield junior who spent time with VFL club Northern Bullants, kicked six goals, while Williams, the ex-West Coast and Collingwood utility who returned to the Eagles in Round 11, finished with five goals. They formed a rampant forward combination.
Beaconsfield kicked eight goals to two in the opening term to lead by 42 points, a margin that should have been more considering the Eagles missed several achievable chances.
The contest evened during the middle two quarters but Beaconsfield was able to kick important goals to hold a 32-point lead at the final change.
Despite being out of finals contention, Beaconsfield was keen to finish its season in strong fashion and the Eagles kicked six goals to one to claim
