Above: Dingo Luke Bartholomew launches himself into a chest mark. By Paul Pickering
ANY chance Springvale Districts had of pressing for a finals berth in Division One of the Southern Football League was effectively dashed at East Brighton’s Hurlingham Park on Saturday.
The Demons led narrowly at every break, only to be overhauled by the home town Vampires in a dramatic final quarter.
After taking a seven-point advantage into the last break, the visitors could only manage six behinds in the fourth, while East Brighton converted twice to clinch a four-point victory.
In an otherwise dour struggle, it was the individual brilliance of East Brighton’s Luke McClelland (five goals) and Michael Jamieson (two) that proved to be the difference between the sides.
For the Demons, the grit of relentless tagger Steve Young and the lion-hearted Brendan Ashman were largely responsible for putting their side in a winning position.
But with the influence of Gavin Vassallo (three) and Mark Charles (two) negated throughout the afternoon, the visitors lacked the damaging forward to put the game beyond the Vampires’ reach.
It was a match the Demons desperately needed to win if they were to remain within arm’s length of the top four.
As it is, only percentage separates Saturday’s combatants in eight and ninth on the table.
Meanwhile, in Division Two, Dingley shook off an early challenge from local rival Lyndale to hand the Pumas an 83-point belting at Souter Reserve.
Buoyed by their first win of the season the previous weekend, Lyndale began promisingly to take a one-point lead at quarter-time, but the superior class of the Dingoes soon shone through.
The Pumas could muster just three goals for the remainder of the match, while Dingley booted 16 more to win in a canter.
In the absence of injured coach and spearhead Adam Quinn, Brett Gniel (four) and Jake Moore (three) pushed forward to lead the Dingoes in front of goals.
Mobile big man Darren Andrews was a dominant force around the ground and Luke Batholomew (two) played his best game for the season.
For the visitors, Brian Grundy booted two for the day, while Anthony Grace, Christian Egan and Jeff Dudi found plenty of the footy.
In Division Three, the Doveton Eagles continued to carry the hopes of a struggling local contingent.
The Eagles thumped Cerberus by 84 points at the Western Port Navy Base, with spearhead Ricky Ramsdale kicking his requisite half-dozen and Steve Ognjenovic and Brett Hidgcock running rampant.
Elsewhere, the Dandy Demons suffered a final-quarter fadeout to lose by 49 points against Canterbury at Greaves Reserve. The Demons trailed by a single goal at the last break, only to concede eight majors in a disappointing final stanza.
The Sandown Cobras suffered their most demoralising defeat of the season in going down by 179 points at Skye.
Bombers frontman Shane Rowley booted 11 goals to bury the hapless Cobras, who could only manage three behinds for the afternoon.
Round 10 match-ups: Division One: Springvale Districts at Clayton. Division Two: Caulfield at Lyndale, Dingley at Murrumbeena. Division Three: Dandy Demons at Doveton Eagles, Cerberus at Sandown Cobras.
