Epping remains in contention to play Division 1 football in 2014 after accounting for Lower Plenty by 19 points at Epping Recreational Reserve.
The Blues led the must-win match from start to finish as they claimed a 12.8 (80) to 8.13 (61) victory, their second win for the season and second against the Bears in 2013.
Epping now moves equal on points with Lower Plenty at the foot of the table with only percentage separating the two teams. With only six rounds remaining, the relegation battle appears set to go right down to the wire.
Following a huge build-up to the match, the first bounce was delayed by 55 minutes after an ambulance was called to assist an Epping player injured in the closing stages of the reserves match.
Players from both senior sides had entered the arena ready for the match, before being told to return to their dressing room. Due to the late commencement, the senior match was shortened to four 24-minute quarters.
Once the match finally commenced it was Epping who raced out to a big early lead.
The Blues kicked four goals in the opening minutes of the game as they left their shell-shocked visitors in their wake.
After Daniel Moore kicked the opening goal of the day, Cameron Brown, Josh Totino and Luke Lirosi all scored goals from resulting centre clearance breaks as the Blues opened a 24-point lead.
The buffer was soon extended to 36 points following Moore’s second and a dashing goal to Cameron Campbell who began his charge from half back.
The Blues midfield was simply dominant in the early stages with John Kruezer’s sublime ruckwork allowing the likes of Moore, Lirosi and Totino to get first access to the contested football.
Hugh Kavanagh finally got Lower Plenty on the scoreboard after converting a free-kick, but the margin was back out to 36 points at the first change after Peter Shepherd kicked his first.
After a frenetic opening term, the pace settled in the second but Epping was still able to kick the first two goals through Shepherd to stretch its lead to 46 points. Josh Stavely leaving the field on a stretcher was the only sour point for the Blues to that stage of the game.
Unheralded players like Michael O’Neill and Cameron Brown were having big impacts on the game, while Sean Bolger’s strong marking around the ground was giving his side a target to kick to.
With only one goal next to its name at the 20-minute mark of the second quarter, Lower Plenty looked in for a long day. However, the Bears miraculously responded with three goals in the final four minutes of the half to trim the margin to 27 points at the main break.
Two of those goals came through the industrious Jackson Powell, with the other was scored by Andrew Phelan who was spotted vacant 20m out from goal.
However, the Bears fightback didn’t continue into the early part of the third quarter as the home side against asserted its authority through goals to Totino and Jarrod Tilley in the opening five minutes of the term.
Totino then had another cancelled out, before the Blues missed some extremely gettable chances which left Lower Plenty with some hope with the margin standing at 41 points.
The Bears mounted their second charge late in the third with goals to Darcy Barden – who was relatively quiet all afternoon – and Matt Duckworth. The margin was then wilted to 16 points when Reece Geary and Powell booted goals early in the last quarter.
However, the visitors missed a number of other opportunities to forge closer and were made to pay when Josh Totino converted a 50m penalty at the other end to seal a much-deserved victory for the home team.
Final score: Epping 12.8 (80) def Lower Plenty 8.13 (61)
