By Tara Murray
Thomastown put a difficult week off the field behind it on Saturday as it overcame Fitzroy Stars in their Northern Football League division 2 clash.
The Bears announced on Thursday night on Facebook it had made the decision to part ways with coach Ben Chapman immediately after two and half years.
Assistant coach Scott Plant took the reins on Saturday and will coach out the season.
Bears president Rob Mazniovski said the committee made the decision in what was in the best interests of the club.
“It was a big week for the club and it’s something that we don’t take lightly.
“The executive committee has a duty of care to do what is best for the club.
“We wish Ben all the best.”
Chapman, who has since joined Tullamarine as an assistant coach, commented on the club’s post that the decision was made after he told the club he wouldn’t be coaching on next season.
Despite the change of coaches during the week, the Bears played some of their best football in recent weeks.
Mazniovski said several players had been out of form which had seen inconsistent results.
“The boys responded with a great four quarter effort,” he said.
“It was a such a big game. We had dropped a couple of games we shouldn’t have dropped. It had been a bad five weeks.”
It was team effort on Saturday against the Stars which got them over the line.
The Bears led from start to finish in the 14.15 (99)-5.11 (41) win.
Anthony Capeci returned to form up forward with five goals, while Matthew Vasilevski, Adrian Natoli and Dylan Chapman were named the side’s best.
Mazniovski said the most pleasing thing was that it was an even spread across the board.
“We had a fair few guys out of form heading into this match,” he said.
“It was a team performance from the first to 23rd player. You could have picked 18-20 blokes in the best on ground.”
The win, the Bears fifth, keeps them in fourth position, with five rounds remaining.
The Bears this week face bottom side Epping.
Mazniovski said they couldn’t take anyone lightly on the run home.
“Our destiny is in our own hands,” he said.
“We keep winning, we play finals.
“There are no easy games and we have to take each week as it comes.
“Epping always matches up well on us so we have to come to play.”
In other results, second-placed Whittlesea had a big win against Epping.
The Eagles kept the Pingers goal-less, in the 20.16 (136)-0.4 (4) result.
In division 1, Bundoora suffered a third straight loss, this time losing to Macleod, 11.8 (74)-8.8 (56).
The Bulls sit seventh, percentage outside the top four.
Laurimar and Mernda had wins in division 3, while South Morang suffered a loss.
