Old Paradians have claimed their third win of the MC Labour Division 2 season, defeating Northcote Park by nine points in a tight contest at Garvey Oval.
The Old Paradians faced off against Northcote Park back in round two, with the Cougars taking away a 60-point win that day. This time around it was the Raiders who took home a nail biting nine-point win, 8.10 (58) to 7.7 (49).
Ben Turner’s men now move a game behind the Cougars as well as fifth-placed Lower Plenty whilst they also move two games clear of bottom-placed Watsonia.
Noah Langborne and Damon Marcon came in hard for Northcote Park with Jacob Thompson kicking two goals.
Standouts from the Old Paradians were Marcus Nolan and Billy Bedford while Michael Boundy kicked two goals for the side.
The Raiders hit the front in the first term having five scoring shots to the Cougars one, with Blair Healy kicking the only goal of the term for the Raiders.
Unfortunately for them they weren’t able to capitalise on the rest of their opportunities, ending the first term 1.4 (10) to 0.1 (1).
It was a competitive second term from both sides, with the margin remaining at 10 points for majority of the term.
Martin Kelly and Damon Macron kicked a goal each for the Cougars to hit the front in the middle of the second term, but Michael Boundy and Rufus Jones followed up with 2 more goals for the Raiders, which put them back in front heading into half time.
Coming into the second half the Raiders came in strong, kicking three goals for the quarter while keeping the Cougars to one. Matt Perry gave it his all with two consecutive scoring shots for the Cougars, while Micheal Boundy kicked his second goal for the Raiders which led to an increased 21-point margin.
Regardless of being down on the scoreboard, Northcote Park left nothing on the table in the last quarter. The side were able to generate six scoring shots while kicking four goals, Jacob Thompson came firing in the forward kicking two goals in the last term.
The connections and intensity from the side was impressive which led to minimise the margin to only nine points.
Despite the push back from Northcote Park, it just wasn’t enough to get them over the line. The Old Paradians held their pressure to take away a nine-point win.
