Eagles fly in thriller

ROC’s Jarrod Goodes is shoved out of a marking contest by Beaconsfield’s Robbie Taylor and Ben Collins during the final term of Saturday’s thrilling clash.ROC’s Jarrod Goodes is shoved out of a marking contest by Beaconsfield’s Robbie Taylor and Ben Collins during the final term of Saturday’s thrilling clash.

BEACONSFIELD seniors snatched a onepoint victory in the dying seconds of a thrilling game against ROC on Saturday.
Seen as a danger game with ROC playing for its season, the Eagles welcomed the return of Rob Taylor and Dean Burnell from injury.
From the first bounce, the Kangaroos showed they were intent in their quest to play September footy. They were very hard at it and with the Eagles matching them stride for stride there was little to separate the sides at the first siren.
Another tight quarter with the Beaconsfield playmakers given limited opportunities by their ROC opponents saw the margin shrink to just three at the long break.
With the defences of both sides on top and only two goals apiece in the third quarter, the Eagles held a twopoint buffer at the last change.
Ben Airdrie was a focal point up forward for Beaconsfield with Craig Jackson using his experience to play a pivotal role in the backline.
Chances went begging for both sides in the final quarter, as tired players were not always able to execute the skills to finish off the good work.
ROC forced its way to a sevenpoint lead late in the quarter but, throwing everything at it, the Eagles kicked a goal and dribbled through two points to win on the siren.
Scores: Beaconsfield 12.11.83 d ROC 11.16.82.
Goals: Ben Airdrie 5, Troy Cashman 2, Justin Duffy 2, Luke McConnell, Dean Burnell, Daniel Charles, 1.
Best: Craig Jackson, Chris Kelf, Ben Airdrie, Justin Duffy, Troy Cashman.

RESERVES

Beaconsfield started promisingly against fourthplaced ROC to be only two goals down at quarter time.
After the break, ROC stepped up the pressure and in an eightgoaltoone blitz, put the game beyond doubt at halftime.
Only the Eagles’ accuracy and ROC’s inaccuracy kept the game from blowing out in the third period with Beaconsfield 12 goals in arrears at the last change.
A good effort to at least finish off the game well saw the Eagles put through four unanswered goals in the last quarter to go down by 58 points.
Scores: ROC 19.14.128 d Beaconsfield 11.4.70.
Goals: Rob Anderson 2, Craig Thwaites, Troy Aylen, Ryan Jolliffe, Warren Sheean, Damian Vanthoff, Bryce Tonks, David White, 1.
Best: Rob Anderson, Heath Airdrie, Warren Sheean, Ryan George, Bryce Tonks.

UNDER 18

With a near fullstrength side, the young Eagles gave the undermanned ROC team a football lesson.
A 12 goal first quarter set things up and apart from a quite patch in the third, Beaconsfield carried out the game plan very well.
Scores: Beaconsfield 34.13.217 d ROC 3.0.18.
Goals: Ash Salter 8, Daniel Battaglin 6, Dean Van Lambaart 6, Damien Szwaja 3, Brendan Jarman 3, Daniel Muzzolini 2, Daniel Clarke 2, Nick Bourke 1, Rob Kemperman, Scott Threlfall, James Brown 1.
Best: Ash Salter, Damien Szwaja, Toby Godbehere, Rob Kemperman, Dean Van Lambaart.

CLUB NOTES

The annual Dinner Dance is on this Saturday commencing at 7:30pm. The tickets are available from David Van Lambaart, Julianne Battaglin or Ian Meyer.