Inaccurate kicking would cost the home side dearly in the end, as it dominated much of general play and had four more scoring shots than its Melbourne counterparts.
In what was the Bushies’ third loss by a goal or less this season, the girls were unable to find the elusive match-winning goal in the dying stages, with a Zarlie Goldsworthy behind with just more than a minute remaining encapsulating a day of missed opportunities.
Murray Bushrangers assistant coach Mario de Santa-Ana said an inability to convert general play dominance into scores was what cost the girls in the end.
“We thought generally we controlled the game for large passages, but we then got hurt on the transition out of their defence, we were really happy with our backline and midfield, and it was just our inside 50 area where we struggled a bit,” de Santa-Ana said.
“Inaccurate goal-kicking really cost us in the end, I thought in the first quarter we blazed away a bit and we had a chance in the last quarter in a set-shot from 25m out that we didn’t convert, at NAB League level you need to kick goals to win games and we are just struggling a bit in that department at the moment.”
Eager to atone for their sluggish start the previous week, the Bushrangers got on top of proceedings in the early passages, but struggled to turn their dominance into scores, only registering the one goal and three behinds to hold an eight-point lead at the first change.
Squandered opportunities would once again be the story in the second term for the Bushrangers, with two critical misses opening the door for the Knights on the counterattack, who took advantage with a pair of majors in the shadows of half-time to pinch the lead.
Trailing by eight points midway through the third term, the home side would produce a crucial scoring burst leading into three-quarter time, with critical goals to India Lehman and Goldsworthy gifting it a five-point advantage.
With the game on the line, Knights would take the lead back in the first minute of the final term, before holding their nerve all the way to the finish to run out one-point victors.
Despite going down in such heartbreaking fashion, de Santa-Ana said seeing Keeley Skepper, Cassidy Mailer and Molly Kennedy shine did soften the blow.
“Keeley Skepper just continues to be super consistent for us, her game gets better every week, and it is getting hard to find areas for her to continue to develop, her kicking is solid, her ball gathering is solid, her positioning and understanding of the game is solid, so now it is about maintaining that level,” he said.
“Cassidy Mailer was brilliant for us once again, while Molly Kennedy, who usually plays back for us, had to be thrown into the ruck and she smashed it, holding her own in the ruck against taller opposition and picked up possessions as well, so she was a real standout for us playing in a new role.”
