Beaconsfield coach Haydn Robins was on target with five goals in his comeback game against Cranbourne on Saturday.By Brad Kingsbury
BEACONSFIELD coach Haydn Robins returned to the goalsquare on Saturday, after more than a year away from the senior team and led his young side to a sevenpoint win over Cranbourne.
Robins booted five of the Eagles’ 11 goals and provided the target in attack that his side had been screaming for since round one, helping his young team storm over the top of Cranbourne and turn a 20point threequarter time deficit into victory.
An extraordinarily long final term (just over 36 minutes) gave Beaconsfield the opportunity to win the game after it was tied for around six minutes late in the last quarter.
“I’ve no idea why it went so long,” said Robins afterwards. “The last quarter seemed to go forever.”
It was Cranbourne’s debut match at their new Casey Fields home ground and it celebrated by kicking away to a 20point lead at threequarter time, after a mistakeriddled first half that saw both sides squander opportunities to grab an advantage.
The result came down to a hectic final term in which Robins presence had a major influence.
Kicking with an abating breeze, Beaconsfield ground its way back to within a goal before Robins booted his fifth for the match to level the scores close to timeon.
Desperate play resulting in many turnovers saw the scores stay locked for several minutes as both teams battled to gain an advantage.
The deadlock was broken when Beaconsfield’s Troy Aylen rushed a behind.
The ball sped back to Beaconsfield’s forward line and the result was sealed when Luke McConnell, who had had a quiet day, roved the pack and ran into an open goal.
Cranbourne big man Marc Holt, who spent time in attack and in the ruck, was among his side’s best with Brett McMaster and Matt Thompson.
Beaconsfield’s best included Robbie Taylor, Justin Duffy, Daniel Mislicki and young defender Daniel Battaglin.
Robins played down his own part in the win and praised Cranbourne’s younger players, while also congratulating his own group.
“It was a bit of a relief more than anything, but it’s always good to get a win,” he said.
“I told the boys to enjoy it and celebrate it, but we’ve still got plenty of work to do. Really, we did everything we could to lose the game. We continued to make decisionmaking errors and we still got across the line so I suppose you have to be happy.
“I was really impressed with Cranbourne’s kids in the midfield. They’re in a pretty good position. Their onballers were very good and they are only 18yearold kids.”
