By Brad Kingsbury
LIFE in football can be cruel just ask ROC coach Hayden Stanton.
His gallant and desperate team led by six points at the 33minute mark of the final term against Beaconsfield on Saturday, only to watch Eagle Justin Duffy level the scores and then 17yearold debutante Tory Dickson dribble through a behind on the siren at the 37minute mark to snatch a thrilling win.
A win would have almost sealed a finals’ berth for the Kangaroos who now must hope for a massive upset loss by Pakenham or Hampton Park to sneak into the five.
“I’m gutted but what can you do?” said a shattered Stanton after the game.
“We shouldn’t have even had to worry about the result of this match had we not lost some soft games early on, but that’s footy.”
Dickson was a complete unknown (even to some of his Beaconsfield teammates) and has played all but three games this season with Haileybury College in the Australian Public Schools competition.
He played two games with the Eagles thirds and came under notice when he booted six goals for the under 18s against Pakenham and backed it up later that day with four more as a fillin player for the Eagles reserves.
Beaconsfield coach Leigh Clifford said he was selected to have a look at him under senior playing conditions and was in the right place at the right time for the side.
There was never much more than two goals between the teams all day and the match at Starling Road had all the drama of a final.
Beaconsfield was boosted by the return of Dean Burnell and Robbie Taylor from injury, but was still missing several key performers, while ROC had close to its best available team on the park.
The battle was fierce from the first bounce with Beaconsfield ruckman Chris Kelf having a big influence, but Kangaroos’ midfielders including Clint Williams, Ben Tivendale and Craig Eagleton shading their highly rated opponents.
The Eagles led by four points at quartertime and three points at half time.
The first sensation occurred in the third term when the Kangaroos’ coach’s brother Sean Stanton collapsed after a heavy bump and was stretchered from the field and rushed to hospital with a lacerated lung.
The battle continued with the lead changing several times before Beaconsfield took a shaky twopoint lead into the final break, setting up a great finish.
The 37minute last quarter, which was marred by ROC big man Steve Pursell’s departure on a stretcher, saw one of the best goalforgoal battles of the year as both sides grabbed the ascendancy and looked the winner at stages.
After a few minutes of negative football, ROC captain Mick Moylan goaled to put the Kangaroos five points up.
Eagle defender Dean Burnell replied shortly after and then Ben Airdrie marked and goaled from centre halfforward to see the visitors move eight points ahead and look to have the momentum to win.
The game was stopped for five minutes while Pursell left the field and the Kangaroos regrouped.
A mistake from a Burnell kickin saw ROC’s Brenton Cowell goal and bring it back to two points and then Callum White hit the top of the goalpost with snap to make the difference a point.
A great snap from Kable Dowsett, followed by a behind, saw ROC lead by six points at the 31minute mark and the home crowd screaming itself hoarse as a finals’ spot loomed.
It was not to be however, because two minutes later Beaconsfield wingman Justin Duffy booted a great goal from the forward pocket to level the scores, before Dickson dribbled through a behind to grab the win with only seconds to play.
The positive news for the Kangaroos was that both Sean Stanton and Pursell were okay and Hayden Stanton, though unhappy, had nothing but praise for his players.
“I’m proud of the way we played today and I really believe we proved that when we play as a team like that we’ve got what it takes to match these good teams,” he said.
“They’ll say they had players out and that’s fair enough, but this was a hard game like a final in every respect and we should have won it.
“Finals are out of our hands now, but we’ll finish off strongly next week and what will be, will be.”
A subdued Clifford was less than impressed with his side’s effort, but gave credit to ROC saying the pressure was finals like.
“They threw everything at us and continued to come. We had a couple of chances to put them away and didn’t take them but credit to them, they had a lot to play for,” he said.
“We weren’t great and we’ve got a lot of improvement left in us, but it’s a tricky ground to play and plenty of teams come unstuck here. To come away with a win is a good result in that sort of game.”
