Tara Murray
There were nerves aplenty on the side lines late in Laurimar’s win against Thomastown in the Northern Football League division 2.
The Power had at every break in the hunt of its second win of the season, but when the Bears kicked the first three goals of the final quarter there were danger sides.
While they’d had lapses in other games, the Power was able to stick strong to come away with the 12.9 (81)-9.10 (64) win.
Power coach Jimmy Atkins said it was nice to see one go their way this week.
“It has been good getting the win,” he said. “Playing four quarters was the number one thing.
“The last four to five games we’ve been good, but had lapses and they kick you in the butt pretty quickly.
“It was good for the boys.”
Atkins said going up a division this season had shown them that they can’t afford to have those lapses if they want to win games.
On Saturday, the Power had the lead for most of the game but they couldn’t break the Bears.
It would come down to the final part of the game.
“It was a bit of an arm wrestle,” Atkins said. “We led at every break, but we didn’t feel like we had put the game away.
“We were five goals up at three quarter time and they kicked the first three of the last quarter.”
Atkins said while they were nervous on the bench, the playing group was able to hold its composure to kick a couple of goals late to get the win.
He said being able to get their hands on the ball late made a big difference.
“We’ve been fighting out games after a couple of big defeats early in the year,” he said.
“We were able to fight it out and get a win this time and play our footy.”
Cooper Herbert kicked four goals in what Atkins said was a best on ground performance.
He said Rylan Herrick was another standout in the win in a good team effort.
Youseph Dib, Lawrence Lo Piccolo and Aaron D’Angelo were the Bears best.
The win keeps the Power’s season alive in the relegation battle.
The Power still sit bottom but are now six points behind Watsonia.
Atkins knows it will be hard to avoid relegation but they are keen to take on the challenge.
“It gives us some hope,” he said. “We still have some games to play.
“We need to win a few more games and hope a few results will go our way.”
Thomastown sits two points outside the top five.
The division 2 competition has a bye this week.
The Power then faces eighth placed Northcote Park the following week.
Atkins said while every team has sore players at this time of year so it’s nice to have a break, it would have also been good to keep the momentum going.
In other results, South Morang was too strong for Panton Hill in a low scoring affair, winning 8.11 (59)-1.11 (17).
Whittlesea also racked up another win, beating Lower Plenty 11.16 (82)-7.8 (50).
