Eltham have won their way to the preliminary final in the Heidelberg Golf Club Division 1 competition after an entertaining seven-point victory over Darebin 1 at Epping Recreation Reserve.
The Panthers broke away during the match and looked set for a comprehensive win before the Falcons fought back with a four goal to nil final term.
But it was Eltham’s body of work in the opening three quarters that helped them prevail 7.8 (50) to 6.7 (43), reversing their defeat to the Falcons in their home and away clash last week and confirming their place in Sunday’s preliminary final.
The return of Michaela Molenberg proved to be a real difference in the match, as she kicked three majors to take her season tally to 19.
Angelique Reibelt was also brilliant inside 50, kicking two goals, meanwhile Alannah Murray excelled in midfield.
Julia Phung produced a dominant effort and did everything to help Darebin get over the line in the last quarter.
Teammate Tamara Olcorn led the side’s charge in the fourth term, kicking two important goals to almost pinch a result for the Falcons.
It was Darebin who produced a dream start to the match as Rikki Ryan crumbed the ball near the goal line and slotted the match’s first goal inside a minute of play.
The Panthers responded almost immediately through Reibelt, who’s set shot sailed through to quickly make it level again.
Eltham managed to break free but only via minor scores initially, before Molenberg was able to build a slightly bigger buffer for her side after converting her set shot.
They looked to be the better side heading into quarter time but couldn’t find a way to express that on the scoreboard, going scoreless in the last ten minutes of the term.
Darebin seemed to be heading for the same fate, although their persistence paid off with a minute to go when Alyssa Nolan broke through with Darebin’s second goal of the game.
Eltham’s lead at quarter time was just one point and in the second term goals looked to be a rarer commodity, as it took almost 15 minutes for either team to break through their opponent’s resolute defence’s.
Two behinds to each team had the margin still locked at a point before two quick majors courtesy of Alaitz Kelly and Jasmine Tilley helped the Panthers lead by 13 at half time.
The third quarter belonged to Eltham as they looked to keep finding avenues to goal and extend their advantage.
Their intent to break the game open further, came just a minute into the term when Reibelt kicked her second goal.
Darebin did find themselves with chances to score but their shots on goal were made difficult by the disciplined defence of their opponents, ultimately going on to score just three behinds for the quarter.
Momentum started to swing even further in the Panthers’ direction, but they too had trouble converting, initially registering three behinds in three minutes.
That trouble was short lived though as Molenberg’s set shot conversion made it her third and Eltham’s seventh goal of the match to take their lead out to 32 points.
Facing a large deficit at the final break, the Falcons were determined to produce one final surge, and from the first minutes of the last quarter, they made sure the game was still up for grabs.
Tamara Olcorn kicked a great goal to kick things off and as momentum started to build for the Darebin, a second major from Olcorn as well as a nice finish from Nikita Magriplis suddenly made it a 12-point ball game halfway through the last term.
The Panthers struggled to maintain possession of the ball, but they did manage to kick a handy point to make it 13 points heading towards time on.
Eltham were on the verge of sealing the game, but then gave away a free kick deep in the forward line before the Falcons quickly got the ball up the other end for Sam Pritchard to kick truly and narrow the margin to seven points.
The pressure and desperation from both sides was at an all-time high as while momentum stayed in Darebin’s favour, Eltham worked just as hard to ward off their persistent efforts over the final minutes.
As the final siren sounded, it was the Panthers who held on, winning their way to a second consecutive preliminary final.
