By DAVID NAGEL
Casey Cardinia Football League – round 10
KEYSBOROUGH’s renowned fighting spirit is about to be tested to its full capacity after the Burra went down to Doveton by 62 points in their Casey Cardinia league clash at Robinson Oval on Saturday.
The ninth-placed Burra were expected to be competitive during the middle part of the season, but three heavy losses, to sides that sit outside the top-five, in ROC, Hampton Park and now Doveton, mean the immediate future looks daunting to say the least.
Chris Bryan and his boys will have to dig deep as they prepare for Cranbourne, Pakenham, Narre Warren and Berwick – the top-four sides on the ladder – over the coming month.
The Burra regained skipper Ryan Goodes, who returned from four weeks out through injury, but just weren’t accountable enough in the first term, the usually low-scoring Doves kicking 6.2 to 3.3 for the quarter. The home side extended its 17-point buffer to 23 at half time, and to 35 at the final break, before ramming home its advantage with a 6.3 to 2.0 final term.
Mathew Collett and Tim Werner kicked two each for the visitors, while the efforts of Danny Morland, Geoff Humphreys and Luke Damato kept the Burra in the hunt through the middle stages.
In other games, ROC pulled off a major upset with an away victory over Cranbourne, Beaconsfield defeated arch-rival Berwick in a feisty Battle of the Creek, while top-side Narre Warren returned to the winning list with a 52-point victory over Pakenham. Meanwhile, Tooradin welcomed in new-coach Lachlan Gillespie with a 114-point trouncing of Hampton Park.
Keysborough welcome Cranbourne to Rowley Allen Reserve this Saturday.
