Magpies show finesse

By DAVID NAGEL
CRANBOURNE and Narre Warren have been trying to trump each other all year, normally with massive margins and supreme goal-kicking feats. Round 14 of Casey Cardinia football was different, with both involved in tough, uncompromising matches against Tooradin and Berwick respectively. Despite the low scores, they still managed to continue their running battle with both sides holding their opponents scoreless in the final term. Gazette sports editor David Nagel takes a look at all the weekend’s action.
POLISH can make cars, shoes or even footy boots stand out in a crowd, and this was the difference between Narre Warren and Berwick as the Magpies ground out a hard-fought, 41-point win over the Wickers at Edwin Flack Reserve.
The uncanny ability of mid-fielders Andy Soumilas and Michael Collins to execute under pressure –on a ground not conducive to silky skills- stood out like granny’s tooth in a physical contest that had a real finals feel about it.
All over the ground, the Wickers matched and at times trumped the Magpies’ intensity, but its failure to hit targets cost it any chance of an upset victory. The Magpies started well, kicking the first three goals, after Berwick skipper Jason Kelly won the toss and kicked with the aid of a two-to-three goal breeze.
Kain Baskaya took on in-form Berwick forward Nathan Waite (1 goal) while Kelly had the huge task of curbing Magpies’ spear-head Kerem Baskaya (3). Overnight rains had the ground in slippery condition and made life tough for forwards, but both defenders applied themselves well. Kain Baskaya was an attacking option, quite often running forward with Waite in tow while Kelly refused to wrestle his more powerful opponent.
Berwick fought back after a slow start to trail by nine-points at quarter time before a tough and competitive second term. When Narre kicked the first two by the 13-minute mark, it looked like another runaway victory for the ladder leaders, but Berwick had other ideas. It lifted its intensity and rattled the Magpies for the remainder of the term.
Aaron McIver became a tad undisciplined and Kerem Baskaya was yellow carded as the Wickers got on top. Baskaya barrelled into Kristian Meredith, who had just taken a mark, and while unlucky to be sent off, his actions weren’t required and summed up the Magpies’ attitude at the time. Only inefficiency cost the Wickers the chance of getting back into the game.
Brad Fowler is a class act for the , but he made several costly errors going inside 50. The second quarter was summed up when Fowler missed a shot from close range, after a dominant patch by the Wickers, before Soumilas kicked an opportunistic goal on his wrong side at the other end. It was brilliant by the Magpie play-maker but soul-destroying for the Wickers.
The Magpies led by 21 at half-time and 29 at the final break before kicking 1.6 to 0.0 in a dour last term.
Soumilas and Collins were clearly the two best players on the ground while Sandringham Dragon player Dylan Quirk, was also hard at it all day. Nick Scanlon enjoyed a run on the wing while Jarrod Anderson and Matt Lee were other Magpies to shine.
Berwick never gave up all day and will be a nuisance if they sneak into fifth place. They have games against the bottom two sides, Pakenham and Hampton Park, so are favoured to play in September.
Kelly was superb on Baskaya, who was quiet apart from two goals inside a minute in the third term, while Andrew Tuck repelled attack after attack over four quarters. Mitch Talbett, Madison Andrews and Meredith were other solid contributors.