Oh, ‘Donno’ not again?

By Brad Kingsbury
A MISSED snap for goal at the death knock of Saturday’s game against Tooradin, came back to haunt star Berwick forward Ryan ‘Donno’ Donaldson after his side went down by one point.
In the corresponding game at the Western Port oval in round three, Donaldson missed a similar shot to snatch victory, with the Wickers going down in that game by two points.
It was a case of back to the future for ‘Donno’ on the weekend, when he snared the ball and snapped from the boundary only to see his kick drift through for a behind with only a few seconds left on the clock.
It was the bigmarking forward’s third lastgasp chance at glory this season and he did have one moment of happiness when he won the Wickers’ roundsix clash with Beaconsfield with an afterthesiren major.
However that was of no consequence to Saturday’s loss and again, the Wickers fell short in a game that they could have won.
It was a good contest from the outset with Berwick leading by three points at the first break and Tooradin hitting back in the second term to take a twogoal advantage into halftime.
The Seagulls were watchful in defence and did not allow the Wickers to get their preferred running game going for any length of time.
The arm wrestle continued in the second half with the Seagulls holding a fivepoint advantage at threequarter time and extending that to what turned out to be a matchwinning threegoal lead early in the final term.
It was a matter of hanging on after that and Tooradin coach Dan O’Loughlin said it was touch and go in the end, when Donaldson had his snap with about 20 seconds left on the clock.
“We just got on top at the right time, but another couple on minutes and we probably wouldn’t have won it,” he said.
“Our defence was great. They were just sensational and it was just pleasing to have a win. Everyone was pretty tired afterwards and it was more relief than celebration.”
Goalsneak Aaron Setford starred in the Seagulls attacking half with six of his side’s 12 goals, while Berwick’s best player was midfielder Adam Mott who became his team’s main playmaker after coach Ronnie Burns left the field with an injury early in the match.
Disappointed Berwick president Peter Jensen said the players had let themselves down when the game was there to be won and planning would start for 2007 now that finals were out of the question this year.