Keysborough centre half back William Gayfer does his best to urge his team-mates on at three-quarter time of Saturday’s upset loss to Cranbourne. By Brad Kingsbury
KEYSBOROUGH tasted defeat for the first time this Casey Cardinia league season on Saturday with the loss of injured stars Tyson King and Shaun Witherden creating holes that were exposed by a fit and pumped up Cranbourne side.
The Eagles scored a barnstorming 35-point win over the surprisingly lethargic Burra at Casey Fields after trailing by four points at the final change of the hard-fought contest.
The game was there to be won and Cranbourne stood up and overcame the visitors, who had no answers in the last quarter.
After a low-scoring and even first quarter in which Keysborough ruckman Dean Gentle gave his midfielders first use of the ball, Cranbourne started to run the ball into attack and peppered the goals, but missed vital shots.
Power Cranbourne forward Marc Holt was well held by William Gayfer and at half-time the Burra held a slender and somewhat lucky five-point lead.
Both sides came out intent on putting their stamp on the game after the long break with Eagles including Ryan Davey, Aaron Shedlock, Matt Fletcher and Robert Beadel raising their intensity, along with opponents Tim Bacic, Darcy McDonald and dangerous forward Matthew Freeman.
Neither side could obtain a winning break and the Burra led by four points at three-quarter time, with the game up for grabs to the mentally fittest side.
That turned out to be Cranbourne, with Brad Langley taking control out of the centre and the Eagles slamming on three goals in seven minutes before Keysborough had made any meaningful forward thrust.
The game was iced by a James Bow bomb from 50 metres at the 13 minute mark that saw the Eagles’ lead out to 23 points and put paid to Keysborough’s challenge and unbeaten run.
The Eagles dominated the final term, much to the pleasure of their vocal crowd, with Fletcher, Langley and Bow booting two goals each and seeing their side to a season-defining win.
Keysborough officials agreed that the loss of Witherden (foot) and King (knee) had thrown the side out of balance, however the last quarter exposed a mental weakness under pressure and the coaching staff was bitterly disappointed with the lack of intensity displayed around the stoppages.
Cranbourne’s players continually outnumbered and outmuscled their Burra opponents in the clinches and won the contested ball throughout the term.
Koop was impressed but not surprised by his side’s effort.
“I thought that we were the better side for most of the day but to their credit, Keysborough stayed in it,” he said.
“When you’ve got a side that is undefeated there’s obviously some class about it and you have to expect them to keep coming.
“It was important for our blokes to keep them under scoreboard pressure and we did that well for most of the day.
“We got beaten in the middle early in the game but in the last quarter I think we won that battle, and that certainly helped us on the way.”
Both sides came through the game without any major casualties, although Fletcher left the field with an ankle problem late in the match.
In other round seven games, Doveton downed Tooradin by 104, Pakenham overcame Beaconsfield by 58 points, Berwick had its first win at the expense of ROC by 73 points and Hampton Park smashed Devon Meadows by 106 points.
