By Brad Kingsbury
THE lights were on and the music blaring on Saturday night as Keysborough supporters toasted their first taste of victory in what has become a long year for last season’s surprise grand finalists.
The Burra held firm against a steady breeze to seal the eight-point triumph over a gallant young Beaconsfield side with a Luke McGuinness goal 30 minutes into the tense final term, after leading all day.
McGuinness started like a train at full-forward and booted the first three goals with the wind, setting the scene for a big effort from his team-mates in their quest to break their 2009 duck.
After leading by 11 points at the first change, the Burra hung in as the Eagles came back at them in the second term with Chris Kelf getting on top in the ruck and Cley Bertoncello creating an elusive target in attack.
The difference was reduced to four points at half-time and Beaconsfield looked ready to pounce.
However the Keysborough stars followed the lead by inspirational captain and defender Will Gayfer and stood tall after the main break and refused to buckle.
The Eagles lost young forward Andrew Hunter with concussion early in the third quarter after he and coach Robbie Taylor collided and that set the scene for an unhappy ending.
A goal after the siren to Tyson King extended the Burra lead to 12 points at the final change and set up a huge last quarter, with both coaches urging their players to victory.
The first 15 minutes of the quarter was a no-holds-barred battle. Keysborough string-bean Dean Gentle goaled early, but then goals to Eagles Glenn Penglase and Luke McConnell reduced the deficit to five points at the 16-minute mark and it was ‘game on’.
Keysborough kept its nose in front and a Ryan Goodes’ goal at the 22-minute mark gave the Burra a 13-point advantage.
Beaconsfield attacked, but could only kick behinds before youngster Abe Roder goaled and again reduced the gap to five points after marking a centre half-forward. Again the Eagles attacked, but could not score goals.
The break came with three minutes to play after an Andrew Williams’ set shot from 35 metres to take the lead drifted off line, thanks to the breeze.
The ball was quickly transferred to an open Keysborough forward line and ended up in the arms of McGuinness who, in his usual casual style, ran in and slotted his fourth and winning goal.
Shaun Witherden and David Roberts double-teamed Kelf and wore him down during the day, while Gayfer was dominant across the backline and clearly best afield.
Veteran Burra defender Corey Wilkinson did another huge job on Williams and Tyson King, Andrew Ferguson and McGuinness rotated through the key forward posts, creating headaches for the Eagles’ match-up men all day.
Positives for Beaconsfield included a five-goal return from Bertoncello and consistent performances from Colin Stewart, Damien Szwaja, Josh Dodsworth and 17-year-old debutante Patrick Chin. However, the Eagles hopes of finals were all but ended by the result and Taylor admitted that his side did not deserve to be a finals’ contender at present.
“Technically the season’s not over, but realistically we are a long way off it,” he said.
“Full credit to Keysborough, they obviously haven’t been that bad this year and they wanted it more than us. But if you can’t beat a side that hasn’t won a game then you don’t deserve to be looking at finals, do you?
“We had our chances and we do all the time, but when the time comes to hit a target or put your body on the line, we just don’t do it enough. The reality is that we’re not up to it.
“We’ve got some really good people in the group – good citizens – but I don’t know if it means enough, if they’re prepared to work hard enough on the track, to force wins in close games like this,” the shattered coach concluded.
Keysborough coach Greg Siwes was pleased that his players had finally found a way to win after a harrowing season to date and said they could continue and improve on that form.
“We were in front all day and we held our nerve. I think we really earned this win,” he said.
“There’s no reason at all why we can’t go on with this in the next few games. We got a couple of goals in the last quarter because we took risks and that was what got us over the line.
“To be honest, it’s not that much of a relief. I was more happy that the players played the way I wanted them to and followed instructions to the letter.
“Hopefully that winning feeling will create more confidence and we can go on and make something of our season.”
