Keilor’s Jimmy Messis celebrates after kicking a goal.
By LIAM TWOMEY
KEILOR took the first steps towards getting its season back on track following a hard fought 15-point win over Maribyrnong Park on Saturday.
In what was a scrappy contest for most of the day, it was the Blues who surged at the start of the final quarter to break the game open.
Maribyrnong Park continued to fight on and kicked three late goals but the damage was done as Keilor sealed the win 12.13 (85) to 10.10 (70).
Keilor coach Mick McGuane was happy his side returned to the winners list following a difficult few weeks on the field.
“Our personnel changed significantly from last week, not by design but it just happened through VFL and unavailability and what not,” he said.
“The guys who came in were fantastic and they really absorbed their roles and played their roles well.
“We were very happy with the effort of the players in terms of buying into the way we want to play.”
Rodney Van Riet was a star for Keilor, winning a number of telling possessions and contests throughout the day to be named best on ground.
He was well supported by a number of Blues as an even spread of the workload helped to take some of the pressure off senior players.
For Maribyrnong Park, Jake Desousa tried valiantly to lift his team throughout the match, kicking four crucial goals in the first half when the Lions were under pressure.
However, he couldn’t get enough help from teammates as the Lions struggled to hit the scoreboard for long periods of time.
“They could argue they had some key players out but so could we. That didn’t detract from the contest. I thought it was a hard-fought game,” McGuane said.
“At times they looked capable of blowing the game up but our second half was fairly telling kicking 6.12 and 4.7 in the last quarter. We really could have won by five or six.”
Both Keilor and Maribyrnong Park are now part of a four-team logjam with Pascoe Vale and Avondale Heights on the Essendon District Football League ladder with eight points.
The top four have broken away with fourth placed Oak Park, two wins ahead of the chasing pack.
After struggling against the best teams in the competition throughout the year, McGuane said the playing group would continue to work hard to improve.
“We don’t look too far ahead. Obviously we would love to be better than where we are at but that’s not the case,” he said.
“We will continue to work. We have Aberfeldie this week and they have recruited enormously. That will be an interesting contest.
“We will look at it during the week. They have some great players in the middle of the ground but our midfield group was very good today.”
