Tara Murray
The Northern Football League division 2 finals series kicked off with a bang, with South Morang beating Diamond Creek in an overtime thriller on Saturday.
Like all season, there hasn’t been much between the two teams, and at the end of regular time in the qualifying final, the two teams were locked at 67-apiece.
It meant three minutes of extra time each way.
Joshua Lansfield kicked a goal in the first of the three minutes to give South Morang the lead.
The Lions were able to hold on to get the win, 10.13 (73)-10.7 (67) and set up a clash with Whittlesea in another qualifying final next week.
Lions coach Gary Hall said he hadn’t seen a match like this before.
“It was a bit of a heartstopper,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything between the top three teams and it’s been like that all year.
“We’re just lucky we were on the winning side of it. We knew it was going to come down to the wire, it was a matter of who makes less mistakes really.”
Hall said the key for them in the match was the way that they started.
The Lions led by 11 points at quarter time and 19 points at half time.
“The wind was quite strong down to one end,” he said. “So we were into it in the first quarter and I think we kicked three or four which I thought that was what set us up for the game
“It was a really, really good first quarter. Second quarter was good but we failed to get the score on the board.”
The margin was back to just two points heading into the final quarter. The Lions kicked 2.4 to Diamond Creek’s 3.0 which locked scores up when the final siren went.
Hall said no one knew what was going on when it came to extra time.
He said after kicking a goal in that first period, they knew that Diamond Creek had the breeze for the last three.
“We were lucky enough to hold on.”
Josh D’Intinosante kicked five goals for the Lions.
Hall said everyone played their roles in the win.
He said D’Intinosante got them going early while Liam Jolly in his first senior game since round two was fantastic in the ruck.
The Lions will now face Whittlesea on Saturday for a spot in the grand final.
Hall said it will be another brutal game. The Eagles had the weekend off.
“If you win it, you definitely will deserve it,” Hall said. “The boys will ice up now and it would be nice to win that and get the week off.”
Diamond Creek will face the winner of Lower Plenty and Thomastown in a knockout semi final.
