Stewart Kemperman weaves his way through traffic in Noble Park’s narrow five-point loss to Vermont. 86291 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
IT’S not often you hear about a coach who is pleased by a five-point loss, but it’s hard to question the logic of the back-to-back EFL premiership coach Mick Fogarty.
Fogarty was impressed with the gutsy performance his Noble Park charges put up against Vermont in the last round of the EFL Division 1 home and away season – kicking out to a five-goal lead at quarter-time before being brought reeled in by the Eagles.
The Bulls didn’t kick a goal towards the Moodemere Street end of Pat Wright Sr Oval as the Eagles mounted a charge in a match that mattered more to the opposition – the win gave them a double chance while Noble Park couldn’t budge from fifth regardless of result.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic about the performance and how we played it out,” Fogarty said.
“You’re probably going to expect with the conditions that we ran out of legs – but to go down by five points when they got us early in the last quarter and couldn’t put us away, I was rapt.”
“Our first quarter against Vermont was the best quarter we’ve played for a long time – run and carry and great work from the forwards.”
The usual suspects held firm for the Bulls – George Angelopoulos keeps hitting new standards in an upward trajectory this year, while Jarrod Plymin, Tyson Mitchem and Chris Horton-Milne performed exceptionally to keep Noble Park in the match.
Fogarty’s aim for the match was to get some much needed game-time into a number of his gun players returning from injury and the signs were positive. Ziggy Alwan (three goals), Sam Monaghan, Tim Kelly, Trent Robertson and Allan McConnell all notched up valuable minutes in the lead-up to their elimination final against Balwyn on Sunday.
Another positive for the Bulls is the return through the seconds for club champion Craig Jacotine – who played three quarters to put his hand up for his first senior match since 30 June.
The battle to beat Balwyn comes down to Noble Park’s swiftness on the ground according to Fogarty, with run-and-carry and brute force speed the keys to surviving their premiership defence.
The match will be played at Tormore Reserve in Boronia, starting at 2.10pm on Sunday.
