Tara Murray
Westmeadows drought breaking win in Sunday’s Essendon District Football League division 2 elimination final had a little bit of anything.
Going for their first finals win in 14 years, the Tigers faced off against the Northern Saints at Greenvale Recreation Reserve.
It was a terrible start for the Tigers trailing by 42 points at quarter time.
With the wind in the second quarter, the Tigers had a number of shots on goal but couldn’t convert.
The margin was back to 10 points in the third quarter when the game was halted due to lightning.
The game resumed after 40 minutes and the Tigers got out to a 10 point lead.
The Saints came hard late, but the Tigers were able to hold on, winning 9.18 (72)-10.11 (71).
Tigers coach Ash Flavel said it was an incredible day. He said there were people crying as they sung the song after the game as it meant so much to the club.
“The first half, how we played and then we responded and then when the thunderstorms hit and we had started getting a bit of momentum and that just killed it,” he said.
“We came out to play afterwards which was good.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s one point or 30 points, as long as you’re in front at the final siren and you move onto the following week,” he said.
“I was rapt.”
Flavel says he doesn’t know what happened in the first quarter. He said they trained well during the week but they didn’t come out to play early on.
“They had the wind in the first quarter but I thought we would be able to peg a few back, but they just kept scoring,” he said.
“I thought to be 40-odd points down at quarter time, I was a little bit worried.”
After being frustrated in the first quarter, Flavel said he was going crazy in the second quarter as they kicked 2.10.
He said had they kicked half of those they would have been close to being in front at half time.
Flavel said they felt in control when lightning meant the game was halted.
“I was disappointed, but I understand the rules,” he said. “We were starting to come at them and we had all the momentum to be only down by 10 points, ideally we probably should have been in front.
“We missed a couple of shots on goal.”
Flavel said the group was pretty chilled when they came back out.
He said they felt they needed to get the first couple of goals to settle.
“We did and then got too close for my liking,” Flavel said. “I don’t know who had that snap shot in the last 30 seconds, but it didn’t go through.
“We then kicked it out and the siren went.”
Ryan Stingel kicked three goals for the Tigers, while Jake Hatton got two. Luke Smith and Riley Hearne were named their best.
The Tigers now face Burnside Heights in a preliminary final on Saturday.
Flavel said they have nothing to lose heading into this week.
“Burnside should be favourites, but they have a few injuries which is unfortunate,” he said.
‘It still doesn’t mean anything. We’re there, we’re 50-50 chance of making a grand final now.”
