By JARROD POTTER
EFL DIVISION 1 – Round 12
PLAYING for more than just the four points, Noble Park and South Croydon battled it out on Saturday for a noble cause.
The clubs have played their fair share of tense encounters throughout their respective EFL journeys, but when faced with adversity, the sides found a way to link up in support.
A week of football calamity at every level left the match – and its 136-point margin – pushed to the side entirely, isolated from the real goal of the day at South Croydon’s Cheong Reserve.
Generosity towards the Bulls’ family has never been forgotten and this week, it was Noble Park’s turn to step up and return the favour to help a friend.
The Noble Park football community embrace an effort to support South Croydon trainer Monique Kouvaras – who was seriously injured in a car accident earlier this year – helping raise $1000 towards her recovery.
This comes after South Croydon rallied behind Craig Anderson and his son Zayn last season for the ‘Shave a Bull Day’ with Bulldogs staying until the late hours of a fairly similar winter Saturday.
While off the field there was great generosity, the Bulls were a bit more miserly when it came to letting the Doggies get on the scoreboard.
An eight-quarter Bulls’ first term left little doubt as to who would run out victorious, but the Bulldogs rallied to negate the Noble Park run through the second to keep the margin at 54 by the main break.
But holding back the Bulls has become an arduous task throughout the EFL this season and South Croydon found that out in the second half with Mick Fogarty’s men rattling off 17 goals to take a 25.16 (166) to 4.6 (30) win.
The mighty Bulls’ forward trio – Shayne Allan, Ziggie Alwan and Kyle Martin – drilled four goals each among a fleet of Noble Park goal kickers.
Noble Park faces Rowville away on Saturday.
VAFA DIVISION 2 – Round 12
GETTING back on the right track, St John’s brushed off Richmond Central in a hard-earned 26-point win. Spraying their way to the finish line, Ben McGee’s charges booted 11.20 (86) to leave the door open for Richmond Central 8.12 (60). Tim Edwards (4 goals) and Glenn Costas (3 goals) led the scoring for the JOCs while Daniel Abou-Karroum and Liam O’Connor also featured in the best.
St John’s maintains a stranglehold on second place in VAFA Division 2 with a 10-2 record going into the break.
VAFA DIVISION 4
Masala had a tough outing in the cold, with Canterbury thumping the Tigers by 164 points. Jordan Toikalkin kicked the only Masala major.
VAFA has a bye this weekend while all SFL clubs were given a bye on Saturday and will resume on 11 July.
