Simon Ponter booted two of Pakenham’s eight goals and provided a mobile target in attack on Saturday. By Brad Kingsbury
PAKENHAM proved its reputation as a side with superior fighting spirit with a gutsy firstround sevenpoint win over Hampton Park at the Toomuc Reserve on Saturday.
With a strong wind blowing to the outer Princes Highway end forward pocket, the game was a scrappy affair with the majority of play at ground level, suiting neither side.
Pakenham lined up with only seven of last season’s defeated preliminaryfinal team on the park, while Hampton Park also fielded a newlook team with several recruits making their debuts.
The Lions had first use of the breeze and took the advantage to kick four goals and build a handy buffer, while keeping the Redbacks scoreless for the term.
Captain Justin Sutherland and returnee from Frankston, Jared Goldsack, were in superb early season form and gave the Pakenham playmakers first use of the ball for most of the first half, setting up the win.
One of the keys to the result was the addition of two goals to the Lions against the wind early in the second quarter, creating a buffer that proved too big for the fastfinishing Redbacks to overcome.
Hampton Park was without ill key forward Kerem Baskaya, but it was not a day for marking options and Redback ground dwellers including Eric Singh, Chris Hussey and Sean Nunan started to push the ball forward after the long break.
Under Jason Chapple, Hampton Park’s self belief is undoubted and the Redbacks turned the tables and outscored the Lions against the wind in the third term to trail by 15 points at the final break.
The last quarter saw a dour struggle with Hampton Park having opportunities to win the game, but missing crucial goals.
Pakenham staved off the challenge and its early dominance proved the difference with the Redbacks unable to bridge the gap before the final siren.
Hampton Park’s better players included recruits Linden Fredericks, Steve Watson and Robbie Lancaster, while apart from Goldsack and Sutherland, Joel Padley, Casey Cherry and Dimitri Dimakopoulos had good games for the Lions.
Pakenham coach Michael Holland was pleased with his team’s endeavour in difficult conditions and said a topfive finish was a realistic aim this year.
“It was always going to be a scrappy game and we knew that,” he said.
“We might have taken our chances a bit more, but I was pretty pleased with our attack on the ball and our tackling was really good.
“We’ve got the nucleus of a good side and I believe we can make finals. The most pleasing thing was that Lincoln (Withers) and myself didn’t have a great influence on the game and everyone contributed.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s always good to get away with a win first up.”
