Casey Cardinia League review – round 2

By Mark Gullick
KEYSBOROUGH’S impressive start to the season continued with a thrilling two-point victory over Berwick.
It was an outstanding game of football; tough, physical and quick ball movement.
After an even first term, Berwick snuck ahead on the scoreboard in the second.
They kicked a goal just before half-time to take an 11-point lead into the long break.
Keysborough outscored Berwick 4.6 to 1.1 in the third term to wrestle back control of the match.
“My focus at half-time was a really strong defensive effort and we actually smashed our defensive action targets (in the third quarter),” Keysborough coach Brad Canavan said.
Going into the final term, Keysborough were in front by 12 points as it began drizzling.
Berwick was kicking towards the Cheltenham Road end with the aid of an apparent breeze.
Only three goals were scored in the quarter as Keysborough defended brilliantly and clung onto to win their second match of the year.
“It was a very solid, tough game and a really good battle,” Canavan said. “I thought the standard was very high and we were happy to beat one of the flag favourites.
“In the end it was a very gutsy and determined win by us.”
Berwick coach Glenn Dale was disappointed with his team’s performance.
“It was probably the poorest effort since I’ve been coaching, just with our structure and the actual game.
“We were beaten around the ground.
“They led us to the ball, they changed things up, they played to a structure.
“We didn’t play to our structure.
“Our accountability was terrible, as was our run. In the first quarter we had 18 handballs received and after that, we only had 15 for the rest of the game. That’s just not our game.”
Best players for Keysborough were Tyson King (5 goals), Travis Skidmore, Davor Rajic and Ben Hoskin. The switch of Luke McGuiness to the half-back was a successful move by Canavan. Will Gayfer had the better of Shane Finlayson and Jason Heath.
Berwick was served well by Nathan Page, Brett Robinson, Paul Vanschilt, Andrew Stent and Andrew Tuck.