A Wicker way to win

ANOTHER game of football – another close battle for Berwick.
It has been that way throughout 2009, regardless of the Wickers’ opponent or where the game has been played, but to their credit they continue to find a way to win.
So it was at the Edwin Flack Reserve on the weekend, when Devon Meadows flew the blocks to lead by six goals at quarter time, leaving Berwick the task of clawing its way back and finally recording a well-deserved 18-point win.
There were two main points to come out of this clash.
Firstly, Berwick will not go any further than the first final if it does not learn to get off to a good start in its games and, secondly, if Devon Meadows ever learns how to win matches they will be a top-five certainty.
The Panthers lined up with Daniel Rigg on dangerous Wicker forward Jason Heath and Aaron Henneman taking full-forward Grant Noonan.
However, it was the run of Jesses Dehey out of the centre, together with the forward pressure of Scott Morrison and Ash Adams that had the home side looking at a big quarter-time deficit.
The task of clearing that fell to the Wickers midfield.
Coach Glenn Dale moved David VanDiemen into an unfamiliar run-with role on Dehey and the ploy worked well with the Wickers booting five goals to one and trailing by a manageable 12 points at the long break.
Devon Meadows were down a man late in the second term after Henneman was reported for the first time in his career and sent from the field for 15 minutes for high contact and Berwick took advantage.
The Wickers rose to the occasion against the wind in the third quarter and, despite the loss of Heath to an ankle injury, kicked four goals to none and took a 10-point lead into the last quarter.
That, plus the wind advantage, proved too great a gap for the Panthers to bridge and coach Steve O’Brien was bitterly disappointed afterwards.
“Again, we only played three quarters and again we come away without a win. It seems that when the chance is there, we almost don’t know how to take it,” he lamented.
“We broke some team rules in the second quarter and I gave them a bake, but they didn’t respond as they should have.
“Disappointment has been normal this year and it’s frustrating because I know we’re good enough to be up with the top sides.”
Positives for Berwick included the fact that three of the club’s younger players, Paul Vanschilt, Andrew Morozoff and Nathan Page were high among their best players and Dale said he was happy with his side’s response after the poor start.
“It was a typical Berwick game – backs against the wall and just fell in.” he chuckled.
“Look it was a pretty good performance. We played well for three quarters, but had trouble putting the score on the board.
“Our third quarter effort against the wind was really pleasing, especially with Jason (Heath) off the ground. We played as a team and that’s what we’ve got to do as we work into finals.”