Stanhope upsets Swans in KDL qualifier

Avenel now hosts Shepparton East this Saturday with a preliminary final spot for the winner and mothballs for the losers.

The big plus out of Stanhope’s win was that McNamara Medal fancy and prolific midfielder goal-kicker Ryan Semmel didn’t have his usual influence on the result, particularly on the scoreboard.

He had a run with rival in Mitch Tobin, and although he didn’t make the impact on the scoreboard, he usually does still earn a tidy amount of possessions.

Chris Gleeson and Tom Rennie with three goals each got the vital goals in the dour struggle to get Stanhope over the line by 11 points.

Stanhope coach Mark Patten admitted his side ‘‘didn’t play that well’’ but got the desired result by simply toughing it out.

‘‘We were able to scrap it right out to the finish,” Patten said.

“We tackled well and forced them into errors.”

Patten said the second quarter when the Lions got their winning break, kicking 4.3 to Avenel’s two points, was the game changer.

‘‘Chris (Gleeson) got us going on the scoreboard and Tom Rennie was also able to get vital goals when needed,’’ Patten said.

Patten said the move of Sam Woodward into the ruck also had a telling influence along with the team’s defence which was led in inspiring fashion by skipper Craig Emmett, Josh Harris and Stuart Trevena.

‘’They all stepped up on the day,’’ he said.

Two key playmakers for Stanhope were onballer and tackling machine Jye Adamson and winger Nathan O’Reilly.

The Swans were best served by Mitch Tobin, and Daniel Clarke while Lachlan Watts, Kyle Maynard, Paul Arandt and Braydon Avola were also prominent.

– Lancaster will have to do it the hard way if it’s to win this year’s Kyabram League flag after falling to Murchison-Toolamba in their qualifying final on Sunday.

The Wombats now face Nagambie in a knockout final this Sunday at Shepparton’s Central Park after a 15.5 to 10.8 loss before a huge crowd at Merrigum.

The combine got on top in the second and third terms and looked headed for a big win.

But Lancaster fought back bravely to get within nine points early in the last quarter after goals from Coby O’Neill and Rikki Busch sparked the Wombats back to life .

And that was after Jake Mills, who had kicked four goals for Lancaster, had been red carded in the third term and left the Wombats with 17 men for 25 minutes which Murchison capitalised on.

Murchison opened up a sizeable break in the third term when Leigh Wellington booted three goals. He was always a danger in Lancaster’s defence and had experienced campaigner Phil Carroll moved onto him.

Unfortunately Lancaster couldn’t sustain its revival and Murchison hit back to regain control in the concluding stages.

Lancaster had good players on the day in coach Tom Davies who tried hard all day to rally his players and midfielder Cam Simpson.

Sam Vick through the midfield and half-forward also stepped up and and Nic McAuliffe and Phil Carroll worked hard in defence to hold the talented Murchison attack.

Murchison had the edge in the airwaves, particularly in the forward arc with 13 marks to the Wombats’ five.

The Lloyd brothers, James and Aidan, Jayedo Hexter and Adam McGibbon were key playmakers in setting up the win, while Kallyun Sanders and Brodie Sanders were also good players for the winners.

Murchison coach Nick Iorianna said he knew it would be a tough fight and he was particularly pleased with how his team responded when it was being seriously challenged in the last quarter.

‘‘We just concentrated on maintaining possession once we had the ball,’’ Iorianna said.

Lancaster coach Tom Davies wasn’t too disappointed with his charges’ efforts but said they would quickly put it behind them to focus on this Sunday’s must win clash against Nagambie at Shepparton East.

In the lead up the Wombats will be sweating on Jake Mills’ tribunal hearing as he is one of the team’s potential match winners.