Lower Plenty took a huge step towards their return to the MC Labour Division 2 finals series, after a crucial 28-point victory over Thomastown at Montmorency Park South Oval.
The home side led from start to finish in an important ‘Battle of the Bears’ clash, and despite the margin reaching just 10 points at the eight-minute mark of the final term, Lower Plenty booted the last three goals of the match to prevail 8.12 (60) to 4.8 (32).
With the victory, they remain in fifth and are now six points clear of their Saturday opponents. With three games remaining in the home and away campaign, they are in the box seat to return to the finals after battling for relegation only 12 months prior.
Thomastown meanwhile have now lost six straight games for the first time since 2016 and will likely need to win their final three matches of the regular season if they are to make an appearance in the post-season.
Riley Alexander was the hosts’ most prominent forward, not only by kicking two goals, but by providing plenty of scoring opportunities for his teammates. Furthermore, his ability to be clean with the footy at critical moments also helped him have a strong influence on the match.
Seth Hill and Patrick Flynn were a terrific ruck combination and were each just as useful as tall targets around the ground, while Tyler Wallace also got plenty of the football and was the other Bears player to finish with two goals.
Whilst Hill and Flynn impressed, Jarryd Coulson played well in the same areas of the ground for Thomastown and put in plenty of effort to give his midfielders first use.
The same could be said for captain Anthony Capeci, who played all around the ground, and kicked the important major to reduce the deficit to 10 points in that last quarter.
Rain fell for the entirety of the first half, making clean ball movement almost impossible for either side in the initial stages of the game.
The first goal of the afternoon however came inside two minutes of play, when Jed Wallace was in the right spot to take an uncontested mark, after a quick inside 50 kick from Riley Alexander.
Alexander would be the other goalkicker of the term, but Lower Plenty could have created a larger quarter time lead had they have not been inaccurate when provided with some big opportunities on goal.
Thomastown on the other hand barely saw the ball enter their attacking 50 and were kept scoreless in a quarter for the first time since Round 11, 2022, to trail by 17 points at quarter time.
The visitors looked to change things up in the second term, and with a bit more of a want for the football, they were suddenly back in the contest, as majors from Jackson Hayes and Michael Tabacco with one minute of each other suddenly made it a five-point ball game.
However, it would be the closest the visiting Bears got to Lower Plenty for the remainder of the game, as Travis Stephens’ men slowly started gain more ascendency as the second quarter went on.
Seth Hill would chip one through from the boundary at the 14-minute mark to bring their advantage back out to 12, before Josh Toressi converted his set shot moments later to push the lead back out to 17 points approaching time-on.
Thomastown would then receive an important boost with the last kick of the second term, when club leading goalkicker James Lucente kicked true on the half time siren to help keep his side in the hunt, as they trailed by 10 points at the main break.
Despite the rain disappearing when the third term commenced, scoring accurately somehow became even more difficult for the two teams, with only one goal kicked between either side.
Both teams had almost moments during the quarter. Just two minutes in, Thomastown’s Youseph Dib showcased his skills, ducking and weaving through traffic to create space before missing the running shot on goal, while at the 19-minute mark, Lewis Tsourou found himself streaming towards goal, before his shot faded to the right.
The only major of the term came through Tyler Wallace just moments before the Tsourou behind, after he calmly nailed his shot on the run from 35 metres out, helping Lower Plenty take an important 26-point advantage into the final term.
With so much on the line in the last quarter, it was Thomastown who struck first, when Capeci delivered a booming captain’s goal at the eight-minute mark to cut the margin to 10 points.
But, just as the away side created some momentum with that major, Lower Plenty would respond immediately. First through Alexander, who fired home his second goal of the game, before Josh Turner drifted forward and off the ground, kicked his fourth major of the season, making the margin 23 points as a result.
It sucked the momentum right out of the away team’s hands, with Lower Plenty in control for the remainder of the quarter, which included a second Tyler Wallace goal, to solidify a handy 28-point victory.
