Berwick coach Glenn Dale was less than chuffed with his side’s narrow victory over ROC on By Brad Kingsbury
BERWICK made use of a strong breeze in the final term of Saturday’s clash with ROC, to finish strongly and record a seven-point win after trailing all day.
The match on a wet and chopped up Edwin Flack Reserve, was a battle of strength and wills all afternoon with the home side and pre-match favourites starting slowly and then being forced to chase their under-rated, but determined, rivals.
ROC kicked with the wind in the opening term and, though inaccurate, led by 25 points at quarter time with Andrew Logan and the Tivendale brothers, Greg and Ben, providing great attacking drive out of the midfield.
Berwick star Jason Heath single handedly kept his side in the game, booting three of his four goals for the day in the second term, but a late Greg Tivendale major for the Kangaroos saw them take a 13-point lead into the half-time break.
The lead should have been greater in relation to general play with ROC maintaining a better work ethic and better numbers at each contest in the first half.
Berwick lifted in the third term and booted four goals with burly spearhead Grant Noonan breaking free of his close-checking opponent Callum White to get on the scoreboard, but ROC answered the challenge with four majors of its own.
ROC’s advantage entering the final term was still 13 points, however it was not enough.
Berwick, as it has done several times this season, ran the game out well and used the wind to its advantage, hitting the lead late in the quarter and then shutting the tired Kangaroo playmakers out of the game.
There were many keen tussles across the day, but the match-up between Greg Tivendale and Berwick captain Andrew Tuck was a beauty, with both players dominant for their teams.
Meanwhile both full-forwards in Noonan and Kangaroo youngster Brendan Graham steered through four majors, despite some close checking on a day not suited to forwards.
Heath was the dominant player on the ground, while David VanDiemen took some telling grabs on a day not suited to the aerialists.
Triumphant coach Glenn Dale was just happy to get the points, but warned that his side’s habit of falling over the line would not suffice against the top sides.
“It was a pretty scrappy sort of game in those conditions, but I thought (ROC) played some good football early and they definitely had the wood on us,” he said.
“We’ve been up for the last couple of weeks and we were flat on Saturday. Getting up in the end and having a win was good, I suppose, but we can’t keep doing that because it will cost us soon.
“We can’t leave it to one or two players like Tucky and Jason Heath to keep lifting us up all the time.”
On the downside for the Wickers was a knee injury suffered by forward Matt Ravenhall, which will be assessed this week.
