Old Eltham Collegians ended a six-game losing streak to keep their hopes of another Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 finals berth intact, after defeating Epping by 19 points at Eltham College.
The 10.9 (69) to 7.8 (50) win sees the Turtles move to sixth, drawing within four points of both the Blues and Ivanhoe with four rounds to go in the home and away campaign.
It was a mixture of joy and relief after the match for local fans, who after some close defeats, were able to get over the line against Epping for the second time in 2024.
“We have had to show resilience from a place of hardship in losing close games,” Old Eltham Collegians coach Matt Sleeman said.
“We are out of that now and we have three important games to look forward to.”
Epping looked the better team early in the contest however, as Adrian Cirianni snapped a goal from a handball receive before dangerous forward Sebastian Latina slotted two goals in the opening term.
Liam Waldron’s talent was on display initially also, and he produced the highlight of the game in the opening stanza. A ball came into the forward fifty for the Blues, where Waldron opted to spoil the ball from from behind, but as he went to ground, he was able to mark the footy just above ground level without anyone else laying a finger on the ball. He managed to nail the resultant shot.
The Turtles didn’t get going forward often in the first term but managed to take their chances when they did. Goals to Jeremy Murphy, Thomas Burns and Matthew Keys kept the home side within touch at the first break, down by nine points.
Epping started the second term with a major to Adrian Alfonsi, who snapped truly to open up a 15-point buffer. However, it was to be their only score for the quarter, as from midway through the term, Old Eltham Collegians had a period of dominance that set up their eventual victory.
It began with back-to-back goals from 41-year-old Benjamin Gill, before Kieran Malone and Daniel Cartisano joined in on the action to give the locals an 11-point advantage at the main break.
With heavy conditions settling in, the game became more of a slog in the second half.
Burns, who had displayed exemplary forward pressure throughout the afternoon, kicked his second for the Turtles and Ben Cox added another to give the locals a four-goal buffer, having made it six majors in a row without a reply from the Blues.
Alfonsi finally stepped up for the visitors after fighting against the odds to kick the ball off the ground for a goal, which took his team to the final break with a deficit of 16 points to chase.
This was a tantalizing lead for Old Eltham Collegians fans, as they had led Mernda by 15 points at three quarter time the previous week before being overrun late by the Demons.
Epping fired the first shot of the final term when Daniel Rakhlin was rewarded for a great tackle at close range which made the crowd nervy.
But Gill responded soon after down the other end with his third of the afternoon.
The Blues attacked but could only register behinds, before the Turtles closed the game down and made it tough for Epping to make any headway, with not a single goal being kicked in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The siren ended the longest losing streak from Old Eltham Collegians in their short NFNL history, but more importantly, it kept their finals hopes alive.
The defence of the Turtles was superb, led by Timothy Ellis, with Beaudie Maroney, Daniel Hallett and Brad Johnstone all standing strong.
Ellis took lots of intercept marks and ran through congestion to move the ball forward and Maroney did a good job on the dangerous Luke Lirosi, while Hallett and Johnstone played textbook defensive roles.
Sean Leersen won the ruck duel, took marks around the ground and did some positive follow up work as well. Brent Macaffer was the premier midfielder on the day, continuing his terrific debut season with the club.
It was a tough day for Blues fans who made the trip, as their team only scored two goals from early in the second term onwards.
“They played a good brand of footy today and we didn’t,” Epping coach Brad Hollow said.
Hollow lamented the fact that the team often bombed the ball into a spare defender and that they were punished on turnovers.
He had praise for Adrian Alfonsi as well as midfielders Corey Middleton and James Tadd.
