By JARROD POTTER
EASTERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE – round 13
THE task ahead is daunting but simple for Noble Park.
Every clash is a ‘must-win’ for the Bulls to stand any chance of qualifying for EFL Division 1 finals following a heart-breaking one-point loss to Montrose on Saturday.
The battered Bulls toiled in the steadily worsening conditions at the Bullring and once the heavens opened in the third term, goals became a precious rarity.
A bicep injury to Stewart Kemperman left the Bulls down a rotation off the bench from the early stages of the match and other Bulls showed the signs of strain, but battled on with their season virtually on the line.
What turned out to be the match winning goal was forged half way through the final term from a hard lead off Matt Petracca, who slotted his set shot to boost the Demons’ lead to six.
The Bulls fired it forward immediately after the Petracca goal and a floater over the back of the pack was snapped up by Luke Cody on a tough angle.
The Noble Park faithful couldn’t believe Cody’s fourth quarter snap-around-the-body was called a point as the goal umpire craned his neck upwards and deemed it went over and past the goal post.
Captain Craig Anderson brought the margin back to a point with less than a minute left – taking a courageous mark while copping a whack to the upper torso that resulted in him kicking from dead in-front.
The final stoppage was kept in close quarters as Montrose held the pill through two bounces and waited for the siren to sound on their most important win to date in Division 1.
Matt Jones and Brett Dore snagged two apiece for the Bulls while coach Jon Knight also praised Sam Monaghan, Tim Kelly and Trent Cody for their attack on the ball.
“I suppose we have won one by a point, but in terms of how our season is, it’s really disappointing,” Knight said.
“We didn’t play that well and probably didn’t deserve to win as our players were really down today.”
Wins are needed from here out to keep the Bulls chances of returning to the finals alive.
“We have to win every game and percentage doesn’t really matter with the draw we had – but we had two one-point games this week and if either was a draw our percentage is a worry,” Knight said.
Noble Park has a bye next weekend before the first of its do-or-die clashes against Scoresby.
