MONTMORENCY challenged West Preston-Lakeside throughout its Round 6 match, however it ultimately fell short by two points at J.E Moore Park.
An unmanned Wayne Pavitt converted in the forward pocket to put Montmorency in front for just the second time in the final quarter during time-on.
However in just over a minute the Roosters replied and a goal to Luke McKenna saw West Preston-Lakeside take back the lead, much to the delight of the home team’s crowd.
After kicking the winning goal in the last minute of last week’s victory over Eltham, Peter Shepherd again played an important role in the dying minutes to ensure the Roosters held on to victory in the 19.11 (125) to 18.15 (123) result.
He intercepted in the midfield and, after kicking the ball out on the full, made up for this mistake by taking a mark in Montmorency’s forward 50, from which West Preston-Lakeside was able to maintain possession until the siren.
It was the third time in as many matches that a game at J.E. Moore Park was decided by less than a goal.
Although the Roosters led for most of the match, they never really got away from the Magpies, with the largest margin being 21 points.
Whilst at half-time the 79-62 scoreboard looked fairly even, West Preston-Lakeside should have been further ahead.
A 10 minute period of play in the second term saw the Roosters maintain possession in their attacking half, however they were unable to score a major and instead added four behinds to their total.
Montmorency was lucky its opposition was inaccurate, as in this time the Magpies continuously messed up their kick-ins.
It was Ryan Willits that ended West Preston-Lakeside’s period of dominance, slotting a goal from a set shot for Montmorency.
Along with a goal from Jesse Donaldson, this brought the Magpies to within four points of taking the lead.
However two quick goals by the Roosters to end the quarter saw them pull back the margin to 17 points at half-time.
Montmorency scored four consecutive goals to start the second half with Patrick Fitzgerald a strong target for inside 50m kicks from his teammates.
Pavitt and Donaldson were also handy in Montmorency’s forward line, as along with Fitzgerald, the trio scored 12 of the Magpies’ 18 goals for the game.
Despite these four goals Montmorency never took a large lead in the third quarter.
Again West Preston- Lakeside spoiled the Magpies’ attempt to get the ball out of the Roosters’ attacking 50, as Adam Valeri turned this intercept into a goal.
An off the ball incident in the same period saw the Roosters get another shot at goal, and, whilst the kick didn’t make the distance, the ball stayed in West Preston-Lakeside’s forward 50 resulting in another goal.
The Roosters finished off quarters strongly, leading at every change. This was particularly evident in the first quarter.
Despite a slow start in which the home team didn’t score its first goal until the halfway mark of the first quarter, it was still able to outscore Montmorency.
The Magpies would be ruing this opening quarter in which they had many entries into their forward 50, but were unable to convert them.
The result enabled West Preston-Lakeside to move into third place on the Division 1 ladder, while Montmorency slipped to seventh spot, two wins outside the top five.
Both teams will play away next week, with Montmorency taking on fifth-placed Macleod and West Preston-Lakeside going up against ladder-leader Heidelberg.
Final score: West Preston-Lakeside 19.11 (125) def Montmorency 18.15 (123)
