Bulls’ form up

THERE was a lot to like about Noble Park’s performance at Balwyn on Saturday, but that only made the 13-point loss more agonising.
The young Bulls played sublime footy in the first half and looked set to deliver a statement at the expense of the reigning premiers, but it wasn’t to be.
For all their youthful exuberance and pluck, they left Balwyn Park empty-handed and clinging to fifth spot on the Division One ladder.
That plight seemed unlikely while the Bulls were up and running early, with Stewart Kemperman, Peter O’Brien, Shayne Allan and Dean Kelly in full flight.
Kemperman, who kicked three goals in the last 15 minutes to seal the win over Knox the previous weekend, continued his extraordinary purple patch by slotting six inside a quarter and a half on Saturday.
The damaging left-footer booted four from a wing in the first term before copping a knock to the knee late in the second.
Kemperman’s explosion overshadowed an eye-catching three-goal quarter from Kelly as the Bulls kicked 7.0 to open up a five-point half-time lead.
Noble’s second term was even more impressive, with O’Brien and young protégé Kyle Martin dominating the stoppages and pounding the ball forward into the teeth of a stiff breeze.
The Bulls had every reason to be satisfied with a five-goal-to-three quarter, but they must have known the talent-laden Tigers would challenge. And they did. Former St Kilda forward Alan Murray (eight goals) – the most influential of Balwyn’s ex-AFL contingent – was unstoppable in the air as the home side made its move in the third, and the frustration shown by his opponent, Tim Davison, infiltrated the Bulls ranks.
Davidson gifted Murray his seventh goal with a free kick in the dying moments of the term as the Tigers kicked away to a 13-point break.
The Bulls had their chances to wrestle back the ascendancy in the last quarter, but some decision-making errors and poor delivery into the forward line proved costly.
Noble coach Alan Ezard lamented those errors after the match, but found plenty of reason for optimism.
“I honestly thought we were the best side on the day,” he declared. “I thought we had their measure for probably 80 per cent of the game. It was just a couple of bad decisions in the third quarter that lost the game for us in the end.”
Ezard praised the efforts of Martin and versatile 21-year-old big man Glen Manson, who played at centre-half-back on Nick Smith and held the ex-Demon goalless.
Manson’s usual ruck partner, Andrew Gilbert, was prominent around the ground in one of his best performances of the season. A wounded Kemperman couldn’t add to his half-time goal tally, while Kelly finished with four and Allan three.
The Bulls will host ninth-placed Scoresby in a must-win clash at the Bullring on Saturday.