By JARROD POTTER
TAC CUP – ROUND 13
HISTORY repeated itself as the Redlegs and Purple and Golds locked horns in a thriller at Warrawee Park.
For the first time in decades, the VFA jumpers were brought back to life as Dandenong Stingrays and Oakleigh Chargers donned the heritage colours for the showpiece TAC Cup clash.
Imbued with Redlegs’ passion- revved up by the likes of Jim “Frosty” Miller and Kevin Shinners during the week – Dandenong found a way back to the front to capture an 11.5 (71) to 10.10 (70) triumph after a seven-goal final term.
But it started horrendously for the Redlegs-for-a-round, as Dandenong butchered the ball and gave away five forward-half free kicks to the Purple and Golds in the opening quarter.
The bumper crowd – buoyed by the Oakleigh VFA reunion at the adjacent RSL – bore witness to Oakleigh’s red-hot start as Patrick Kerr marked strongly while Adam Tomaro was at the base of every pack.
It resulted in shots aplenty for the hosts… but to Dandenong’s luck the Oakleigh boys couldn’t finish the job in front of goals.
The muddy conditions seemed to favour Oakleigh and it thrust countless forward-50s up to the tall Oaks to leave the Dandy backs haphazardly scrambling.
But despite the shot-spree, they didn’t bury the Redlegs. For all that work, for how badly Dandenong was pulverised in the second and third terms, the side was still in it come the final term.
Only a few waved the flag in the middle stanzas as Dylan Atkins, Tommy Glen and Matt La Fontaine got the ball moving. Jordan Stewart and Reece Piper were strong down back, providing some run-and-carry the other way and there was presence up forward from the Rat-Bat combination Sammy Fowler and Josh Battle.
But as bad as the third term panned out – as the hosts booted five goals to extend a 40-point gap – the scriptwriters weren’t done yet with this incredible story.
The gears turned rapidly for the revived Redlegs, giving Fowler and Travis Young a flurry of shots to bring the gap down to 17.
Dandenong was unstoppable in the engine room and Oakleigh was left to watch on helplessly as Atkins plucked a mark-and-goal effort from the skies before the little Rat poked his head up again to snag his second of the term, before Battle soccered one through to really bring the pressure.
By then it was panic stations for Oakleigh as the run-on pushed Dandenong to find Tom Murphy for the fourth goal in eight minutes to slash the gap to five.
Glen was the next Redleg to put his head over it, dishing off yet another clearance to find … you guessed it. The Rat.
Fowler squeaked his way out of the pack at the goalmouth, laid a tackle, got onto the second effort and booted his third to give the Rays the lead.
Oakleigh rolled the dice to get one more chance up forward, but sprayed a shot across the face to highlight the problems the Purple and Golds faced all day in front of the sticks.
It rebounded back to the Redlegs half … but nothing the hosts could do would extract it again as Murphy and Glen laid match-saving tackles.
Atkins’ starring role through the centre – continuing his strong TAC Cup season – earned him the award for best Dandenong player on field as the undervalued ruck/forward surely had a few recruiters jotting his name down.
“Just with their effort – third quarter there were some really critical times that they outnumbered us and just worked harder,” Redlegs coach Craig Black said. “Three-quarter-time we just challenged the boys to bring their effort, make a few little risks and move the ball a lot quicker and we challenged them to kick five goals.
“Did we expect them to win the game?
“No – not after kicking four goals in three quarters – but with a bit of momentum anything can happen.”
Dandenong is back in the regular Stingrays strip for next round’s away clash with Sandringham Dragons, at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Saturday 23 July from 11am.
TAC CUP SCOREBOARD
OAKLEIGH 2.2 5.6 10.8 10.10 (70)
DANDENONG REDLEGS 1.0 3.3 4.4 11.5 (71)
OAKLEIGH Goals: J. Higgins 2, D. Johnstone 2, P. Kerr 2, J. Daicos, E. Phillips, V. Adduci, C. Thompson. Best: T. Duman, J. Aujard, J. Higgins, N. Reeves, S. McLarty, D. Johnstone.
DANDENONG REDLEGS Goals: S. Fowler 4, J. Battle 2, T. Murphy 2, D. Atkins, T. Young, H. Clark
Best Players: D. Atkins, J. Stewart, M. La Fontaine, R. Piper, C. Harris, S. Fowler.
