By Marcus Uhe
Saturday’s clash at Pat Wright Senior Oval marked a special milestone for Noble Park as the club celebrated a pair of milestones.
Stalwart midfielder Chris Horton-Milne notched his 150th game in blue and gold, and 100th at senior level, while the club took the field for the 450th occasion in the Eastern Football Netball League.
Club historian Mark Durdin crunched the numbers on the club’s time in the competition to reflect their success in the period to game 450.
Only Vermont has won more premierships in the League’s highest division since Bulls joined from the Southern Football Netball League in 2000.
Noble Park has five premierships, in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011 and 2022, to show for its last 450 games, for an overall win-loss record of 297 wins, 150 losses and three draws.
They possess winning records against six of the nine Premier Division sides in 2024, with a highest winning percentage against Berwick (85.7 per cent) and South Croydon (81.1 per cent).
Horton Milne, meanwhile, was a premiership player in 2022 in his first season back at the Bulls, after a six-year stint at Dingley in the Southern Football Netball League.
The contest itself was little cause for celebration, however, with the home side surrendering a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter to Doncaster East in a 20-point loss, 10.5 65 to 12.13 85.
The seesawing contest was dictated by runs of consecutive goals on either side of the scorecard, with the Moodemere Street end proving to be the scoring side of the ground.
Noble Park kicked the opening three goals of the contest to shoot to a 17-point lead in the first quarter, but conceded the next seven to trail by as many as 30 points during the third term, having been held goalless in the second.
Ben Marson snapped the deadlock 10 minutes into the third and kick-started a run of seven consecutive Bulls goals, with momentum flipping as a result.
Goals to Levi Young, Kane Marshall and Tarkyn O’Leary in a three-minute burst to close the quarter ensured the Bulls entered the fourth quarter with the lead and the wind at their sails, and an end to their current losing streak looked on the horizon.
Marson’s third put Noble Park ahead by 10 points early in the final term, before it conceded the final five goals of the game to fritter away the lead.
The losing streak grows to seven matches, and with a trip to South Croydon next week to face a resurgent Bulldogs on the cards, it appears unlikely to be snapped.
Nathan Noblett, Luke Bull and Laim Scott were among the Bulls’ best, as was Horton-Milne in his milestone afternoon.
Marson finished with three majors as the home side’s only multiple goal kicker, taking him to 18 goals for the season.
