General News
26 August, 2019
Magpies’ contrasting fortunes in final home and away round
CAMPERDOWN’S Hampden league senior football season ended in disappointing fashion on Saturday.
CAMPERDOWN’S Hampden league senior football season ended in disappointing fashion on Saturday.
The Magpies were beaten by arch rivals Cobden 8.5 (55) to 6.17 (53) in a thriller at Mahony’s Transport Leura Oval.
Cobden, with the aid of a strong breeze, burst out of the blocks in the opening quarter, kicking five unanswered goals to hold a 29 point lead at the first break.
The Magpies responded quickly in the second term, and while able to kick multiple goals, they wasted a number of opportunities.
They ended up kicking 4.9 to Cobden’s 1.2 for the term, with the Bombers entering the main break four points clear.
Rain at the start of the third quarter turned the match into a game of inches and several repeat stoppages.
But it was the Bombers who made the most of their chances, kicking two goals to Camperdown’s two behinds to carry a 17 point lead into the last quarter.
Camperdown launched a charge in the final quarter, kicking two goals to get the margin back under six points, but could not find a match winner in the dying stages as the Bombers held on for victory.
Magpies coach Jack Williams said inaccuracy was once again one of his side’s problems in the loss.
“It was disappointing again not to get the win,” he said.
“Our inaccuracy the last couple of weeks has really hurt us and on Saturday we were on top the whole second half.
“But we had some easy shots that didn’t go through that proved to be the difference at the end of the game.”
Williams said it was evident in the rooms post game that the playing group was disappointed to finish with back-to-back losses.
“I’m sure everyone is hurting on the inside with how we finished but there was still some good signs there,” he said.
“It’s just the little things like inaccuracy and skill errors that have hurt us.
“But if you saw them after the game you could see they care about winning games and how successful they want the club to be.”
Williams said he wanted his players to channel that feeling and use it to “really launch into pre-season and round one next year”.
“Nobody wants to have that feeling and hopefully that just gives us extra motivation to get better next year because everyone wants to be playing finals,” he said.
“In that sense it should burn in everyone’s minds and it should give everyone the drive to put in a big pre-season.”
Meanwhile, the reserves and under 18.5s endured mixed results ahead of their finals campaigns this weekend.
The reserves suffered an 11.5 (71) to 4.3 (27) loss, while the under 18.5s triumphed 8.6 (54) to 2.4 (16).
The under 18.5s will kick off their finals series on Saturday in the qualifying final against Portland at Hamilton’s Melville Oval, while the reserves play Hamilton Kangaroos on Sunday in the elimination final at Koroit’s Victoria Park.