Nathalia's Max Frostick and Tongala's Matthew Caia.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Tongala played its best football for the season in its much-anticipated Murray Football League clash with Nathalia on Good Friday — but still lost.
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That’s the opinion of its coach Steve Hammond who was happy as a beaten coach could be after Nathalia ran out a 25-point winner on its home ground.
‘‘They (Nathalia) are a very good side and we took it up to them all the way,’’ Hammond said.
‘‘We should have been with them (on the scoreboard) at half-time, but we missed some late goals we should have got.
‘‘But they got a break on us and were able to defend a lead for the rest of the game.’’
Liam Evans proved Nathalia’s match-winner with a seven-goal bag and proved a reliable go-to target up forward.
The Blues had no dominant forward and six of their goals came from skipper and ruck ace Kyle Fitzerald, who led his side inspiringly against one of the best big men in the league Brodie Ross, Tristan Watson and Mitch Hewood, each with two majors.
Tongala’s Darwin fly-in on-baller Cam Ilett and another on-baller midfielder Bailey Waasdorp gave their all again and along with Fitzgerald and key defender Sam Cipriani were among Tongala’s best players.
Tatura recruit Heywood had kicked three goals in Tongala’s win over Barooga the previous week and has made an impressive start with his new club.
Tongala's Nate Dear and Nathalia's Alex Hicks.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Dom Watt and Mitch Fitzgerald also held their own for the Blues, but the bottom line was Nathalia was a bit too good.
But the Blues should return to the winning list this Saturday when they host Rumbalara which has given no hint at this stage it will worry too many teams in the competition.
Tongala will have star midfielder Jack Hammond back for this game after two weeks suspension and he and the Tongala on-ballers and midfielders should present a lot of scoring opportunities to ensure Tongala doesn’t drop off finals pace.
The Blues had greater success elsewhere, with their reserves and under-17s notching wins in both grades.
The reserves led for the entirety of their contest with Nathalia, coming away with a 16-point victory, 9.7 (61) to Nathalia 7.3 (45).
The under-17s came away with a stronger win, downing the Purples by 41 points with the final score being 12.9 (81) to 6.4 (40).
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