Thomastown will play finals for the first time since 2014, despite a final round loss to Diamond Creek in A Plus Labour Solutions Division 2.
Diamond Creek prevailed 14.14 (98) to 13.18 (86) at Main Street Recreational Reserve, but didn’t secure enough of a percentage boost to leafrog the Bears into fourth place.
Last year’s runner-up needed to win by at least 12 points to secure a finals berth and led by as much as 50 points during the third term, before failing to hold out their fast-finishing host in one of the most dramatic finishes to a season imaginable.
Alas for Thomastown, it ends a three-year streak of close finals misses, having finished in fifth place on the ladder for three consecutive seasons.
Despite winning the match, Diamond Creek players slumped to the ground on the final siren, whilst the Thomastown faithful invaded the pitch in jubilation – in scenes akin to a grand final win.
Early on it seemed it would be a mere formality that the team progressing to the finals would be Diamond Creek. After conceding two of the first three goals of the match, the visitors piled on the last five majors of the quarter to race out to a 25-point lead.
The run was finished by a spectacular mark from Ryan Pingree late in the term, who flew so high that he was unable to take his set shot after landing heavily. He left the kick to Nicholas Barro to boot home his second for the day.
The Creekers’ momentum continued in the second term as Jedd McQueen, Jai Norman and Barro each booted majors to extend the lead to 43 points.
Thomastown had not kicked a goal since the six-minute mark of the first term, before Jacob Osei-Duro broke the drought midway through the second term.
But it was not enough to halt Diamond Creek’s momentum as Marcus Lentini kicked an instant reply to extend his side’s lead to 44 points.
A late reply from Osei-Duro at the end of the second quarter was not enough to derail Diamond Creek’s charge, as the visitor booted the opening two goals of the third term to open a game-high lead of 50 points.
But this was where Thomastown finally kicked into gear, ending the third quarter on a four-goal streak, including two to Anthony Calafiore, to reduce the margin to just 23 points at three-quarter time.
With a loud Thomastown faithful behind the home side, it was the visitors who were able to quell the momentum momentarily, as Ryan Pingree and Daniel Shallard kicked two of the first three goals of the quarter to maintain a 25-point advantage after 10 minutes.
Anthony Capeci, who was able to split the two Creekers’ goals early in the fourth quarter, was able to kick his third major minutes after Shallard’s major, and it was followed by another to Calafiore as the margin was cut to 14-points.
With the crowd at fever pitch, Matthew Ferraro sailed home the goal which put Thomastown back into the top-four, nailing his set shot from the 50m arc with only minutes to spare.
Capeci then booted another to cut the deficit to two points and ensure the Bears held onto fourth place and booked a place in the first semi final where it will take on Banyule at Epping Recreation Reserve.
Final score: Thomastown 13.18 (96) def by Diamond Creek 14.14 (98)
