Impressive Creek Win Battle Of The Tigers
Slacks Creek 4 (Veivers 15’, Atherton 59’, S.Giannini 70’, Hannant 90’) Tarragindi Tigers 2 (Blaikie pen 19’, Bevan 28’) HT 1-2 Played at Usher Park
Slacks Creek rebounded from their heavy loss against Bardon Latrobe, running away with a deserved 4-2 defeat of Tarragindi in the battle of the Tigers at Usher Park on Saturday night. Tarragindi started best and despite going behind to a pin-point long range effort from Kyle Veivers in the 15th minute, went into the halftime break with the lead courtesy of a penalty from Doug Blaikie and an opportunistic effort from Jack Bevan The second half was a completely different story, featuring three unanswered strikes from the home side. In the 59th minute, Michael Atherton levelled the game with a well-taken back post header and eleven minutes later Veivers put the ball on a plate for Stefano Giannini to fire his side into the lead. Aaron Hannant came off the bench and in the final minute of normal time ensured the victory with a swivel and shot from the left side of the box. Capital League 3 is still taking shape and many pundits would have expected the away team to leave with a comfortable three points so the outcome this evening will ring alarm bells for the rest of the league. Special mention goes to both the number 11’s, Veivers for the home team and Cameron Smith for the Tarragindi, who made things happen repeatedly when they were in possession. It was an impressive win for Creek but a tougher challenge lies ahead on Friday night when they travel to Grovely for a match-up against in-form Westside.
Coaches Reactions:
Julian Chan (Tarragindi Tigers) “Tough game tonight, they really wanted to win it. They were certainly very physical and played out the whole game. If you can’t play for the whole ninety minutes, and we didn’t do that tonight, you’re not going to win against a team like this. We came out ready to play but plenty of teams will struggle to come here and take the points.” Paul Dunlop (Slacks Creek) “I thought our back four were really good today. We switched the ball well and created opportunities for our wide men to get in behind them. Last year they were a top four side so we played well. We came in at halftime behind but I told the boys to stick to how we were playing and the result will come. We dominated the second half and deserved the win.”
FB Media Player of the Match: Michael Atherton (Slacks Creek)
The number 8 took control of the midfield, particularly in the second stanza, scored an excellent goal and created multiple opportunities with some well-timed balls into the forward third.
Team line-ups
Slacks Creek: Stout, Dunlop, Smith, Koplick, Taylor, L.Giannini, Atherton, Oudney, Hamilton, S.Giannini, Veivers. Subs: D.Giannini, Lewis, Schoutens, Hannant.
Tarragind Tigers: Weaver, Walker, Wilkins, Blaikie, Myhill, Le Petit, Molloy, Bevan, Wall, Smith, Moore. Subs: Farr, Lack, Burchell.
Referee: Joey Lee
