Above: Noble Park midfielder Steven Fouracre sets up another Bulls attack against Knox on Saturday. By Paul Pickering
IT would be difficult to imagine a more clinical display than Noble Park’s 193-point pasting of Knox at the Bullring on Saturday.
By Kris Barlow’s own admission, it was the Bulls’ most polished performance of the season to date.
And given the Bulls are now sitting atop the Eastern Football League’s Division One ladder, that is high praise indeed.
While Noble Park’s ascension to top spot was the result of Vermont’s shock loss to Croydon on Saturday, few present at the Bullring could have doubted the home side had earned that distinction.
The Bulls bolted to an early lead on the back of goals to Dean Kelly, Peter O’Brien and Dave Velardo in the opening 10 minutes, before opening up a 29-point lead at quarter-time.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, the afternoon would only get worse as Noble Park added 10 goals in the second, nine in the third and 13 in a farcical final term.
And while some home fans may have been embarrassed by the one-way traffic, the Bulls were merciless to the end.
As usual, Noble Park’s dominance centred around the likes of Stewart Kemperman, Craig Anderson, O’Brien and Barlow in close, while versatile key defender Daniel Rigg was unleased on a wing with devastating affect.
Precision delivery made it impossible for the Falcons’ defence to stem the flow, as Velardo (six goals), Heath Black (six), Kelly (five), Barlow (four) and O’Brien (four) led a list of 13 goal-scorers for the Bulls.
Noble Park’s back half was never subjected to any sustained pressure, but the defenders resisted the temptation to surge forward of the ball in pursuit of easy possession.
It was a consummate performance, and one that is likely to form the model for Barlow’s charges going forward.
“It couldn’t have gone much better,” the Bulls coach reflected.
“I’ve been critical of how we’ve gone about some of our games, because I felt like we’ve shot ourselves in the foot a bit with our skills and execution.
“But I suppose we showed on Saturday how well we can move the ball, and how dangerous we can be.”
And while the Bulls structure looks nicely settled at the moment, Barlow hinted that the successful Rigg experiment may be revisited later in the year.
“I thought that was a good move for us, because he’s actually quite clever at finding the ball and we all know his skills are terrific,” Barlow said.
“I suppose he’s a victim of his own good form down back.
“I’d love to play him (on the wing) every week, but necessity means he’ll have to play back at some stage.”
Barlow now has a fortnight to plan for Noble Park’s top-of-the-table clash with Scoresby at the Bullring on Saturday 14 June.
The Magpies have dropped only one game this season and are sitting behind Noble Park on percentage.
