SKOB returned to the winners list with a pair of Woods leading the way to defeat a very strong opponent in Old Melburnians at TH King today. The win consolidates SKOB's spot in the top four and sees them go a game and percentage clear of their opponent today.
The clouds threatened but the rain never came allowing the game to be played in near perfect conditions (aside from a sticky gluepot in the middle of the ground). SKOB got away to an early led, but OM's pegged them back and probably had the better of the going in the first term. It was classic arm-wrestle stuff in the opening exchanges, with tackling fierce and both sides attacking the footy with vigour. As the quarter wore on, SKOB started to regain some ascendancy and when Jarrod Waite marked a soccer kick from Plugger Lynch right on the siren and duly converted, SKOB went into the first huddle with an unlikely 1 point lead.
The second term started in the same vein as the first ended, with Waite again on the end of a pass - this time slotting a delightful goal from 45 out on the boundary. The SKOB midfield then clicked into gear and started giving their forwards some better delivery. Their ability to cause repeat inside 50s resulted in back to back goals (including a very clever snap by Billy Kanakis from the boundary line). The visitors were able to get one back against the run of play but Billy Kanakis bobbed up right on the stroke of half time to kick another goal after a fine grab in the forward line. At half time, SKOB had extended their one point lead out to 17.
OM's were first out of the blocks after the break kicking the first goal after a minute and it was game on again. The bigger bodied OMs team was looking to exploit their height advantage and started to look dangerous up forward, however SKOB were always dangerous on the counter attack and swept the ball from one end to the next to score midway through the quarter and keep a gap on their opponents. Again OM's lifted their work rate and seemed to have the better of the quarter, and SKOB looked like they might rue a couple of misses in the term to put the game away.
As the players swapped ends for the final time, the lead had been reduced to only two goals and despite the now glorious sunshine bathing the ground, it was starting to look a little bleak for SKOB. They were going to need to move the ball quickly and use the switch of play to keep possession and not get lulled to kicking to contests where the OMs talls had advantage. The SKOB players responded to these instructions and held firm. Finally after a sweet passage of play where some precision passing was met by strong hands, the ball made its way to Henry Parkes who marked on a lead and converted. It gave SKOB the 3 goal buffer they needed and from that moment they always had enough to keep OMs at bay. OMs managed to kick one, but SKOB had the final say when they kicked the sealer at the 25 minute mark and held on to run out 19 point winners in the finish.
SKOB 12.10.82
Old Melb 9.9.63
Goals: Waite 3, Parkes 2, Barnett 2, Kanakis 2, J Wood 2, Richards
Best: J Wood, N Wood, Lynch, Waite, Cameron, Parkes
In the early game, OM's had the better of SKOB in the Reserves top of the table clash. The game showed that both clubs possess great depth, and was a very close contest with OMs just too strong in the end.
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