By David Nagel
The form line is certainly open to conjecture but Cranbourne will take some real confidence away from its hard-fought 13-point victory over Beaconsfield at Holm Park Reserve on Saturday.
Both teams had form more suited to a high-class provincial meeting than the spring carnival heading in, with Cranbourne having not defeated a top-five contender since Round 8 – Beacy having to go all the way back to Round 3!
But this win was impressive for a number of reasons for Cranbourne, with Simon Goosey’s men clawing their way back from a 26-point deficit early in the second term. And they did it at the home of this year’s grand final.
“I thought it was a pretty good win in the end, they had everything to play for and got off to a decent start and probably got a goal or two more than they should have late in the first quarter,” Goosey said.
“But the indicators were there that we were right in the game, we just needed to tidy up a few things and not give away those 12-point plays.
“We had the ball going forward, we’d turn it over, and they’d hurt us going the other way. Sometimes you don’t get rewarded for your efforts in football.”
Beacy hit the ground running with first-gamer Jackson Bramich finding the ball on his boot after just 10 seconds of play to kick the opening goal of the match. Troy McDermott bagged two more, and when Dan Hellyer and Jake Aarts kicked truly the home-side led by 20 points at quarter time.
Bramich then threw the cat amongst the pigeons with a quality finish from the boundary to kick the margin out to beyond four goals.
But sometimes it just takes one lapse in concentration to change the course of a match.
And it came from Julian Stone, who gave away a 50-metre penalty at the resulting centre clearance, with Shaun Marusic seizing the moment to kick-start Cranny’s resurgence.
The reigning champs would go on to kick the next five goals of the match, with majors to Troy Tharle and Zak Roscoe cutting the margin to eight at half time before Jake Carosella, Luke Bee-Hugo and Khaled Kandakji continued that momentum early in the third.
Kandakji’s goal was the result of some great transitional play from the visitors, with Brandon Osborne, Jayden Sullivan and Bee-Hugo clean and precise with their ball movement off half back.
Dan Coinu and Brad Homfray answered for Beacy, but goals either side of three-quarter time from Kandakji gave Goosey’s team an edge that they would maintain until the final siren.
“There were some real positives for us I thought, Jordy Bertrand was outstanding, Glenn Osborne continues to get some run back in his legs and Aaron Bower played well in his first game back,” Goosey said.
Kandakji’s three goals were super-important on a tough day for forwards, with ruckman Micky Boland and midfielder Ryan Davey joining Osborne and Bee-Hugo as their side’s most valuable performers.
As for Beaconsfield, well it could build a serious case to suggest that this was its best performance since that round three victory over the Magpies. They had enough of the ball to do some damage but just failed to convert at the rate of their more accurate opponents.
Bramich, McDermott and Aarts finished with two apiece for Beacy, while the midfield brigade of Kyle O’Sullivan, Daniel Galante, and Michael Misso matched their bigger-bodied foes.
O’Sullivan provided one of the highlights of the match, running down the explosive Bower in the second term.
Both teams are fully aware of their fate heading into Round 18, with Cranbourne set for a qualifying final clash with Narre Warren while Beacy will take on Doveton in the elimination final.
Cranbourne host Doveton this week while Beaconsfield takes on premiership favourites Berwick at Edwin Flack Reserve.
BEACONSFIELD 5.2 6.4 8.7 10.9(69)
CRANBOURNE 2.0 5.2 9.2 13.4(82)
Beaconsfield Goals: J. Bramich 2, T. McDermott 2, J. Aarts 2, B. Homfray, D. Coinu, D. Hellyer, D. Galante. Best: K. O’Sullivan, D. Galante, J. Aarts, S. Meyer, M. Misso, T. McDermott.
Cranbourne Goals: K. Kandakji 3, L. Bee-Hugo 2, S. Marusic 2, R. Jones 2, J. Carosella 2, T. Tharle , Z. Roscoe. Best: J. Bertrand, M. Boland, L. Bee-Hugo, G. Osborne, B. Osborne, R. Davey.
