Williamstown’s Tom Williams and Daniel Pearce gang tackle Myles Sewell. 83488_05 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By ADEM SARICAOGLU
WILLIAMSTOWN’S winless streak stretched to four on Sunday, losing to North Ballarat by seven points at a soggy Burbank Oval.
The Seagulls were wasteful in front of goal and struggled to overcome the staunch Roosters, who managed to maintain their slender lead for most of the second half.
Trailing by just five points at quarter time and with its midfield on top, Williamstown added nine behinds to its tally and went goalless in the second term, while the Roosters kicked 1.4 to lead by six at halftime.
Williamstown coach Peter German said wasted opportunities in the first half proved costly at the end of the game.
“If you want to isolate where we lost the game you could probably say that was the quarter,” German said.
“To have 23 inside 50s to eight in the second quarter and to kick nine points and actually lose the quarter by a point, it’s disappointing.
“I dare say we’ve had more inside 50s, so we’ve worked really hard to get the ball in there, but until we can start being able to hit the scoreboard and reward ourselves with our good work, we’ll keep putting ourselves in tight finishes.”
The Seagulls’ kicking woes continued after the main break.
After scrapping their way into the lead at the four-minute mark, Williamstown held onto it for 13 minutes before North Ballarat snared it back.
Brett Goodes had a chance late in the third quarter to bring Williamtown back within a kick, but like many of his team mates did throughout the day, the shot fell well off the mark and didn’t register a score.
Down by eight points at the start of the final term, the Seagulls finally got its goal-kicking into gear and traded blows with the Roosters on the scoreboard.
The arm wrestle continued into time-on, as Williamstown continually won the footy but struggled to penetrate North Ballarat’s last line of defence.
Ed Carr broke free from a stoppage in the forward pocket and goaled to again bring Williamstown within a kick, but the Roosters were too good, working the clock down and forcing two behinds deep inside their own 50 to seal the win.
German said he was happy with the effort his young side produced, but admitted it lacked execution when opportunities arose.
“Effort was Ok, but at the end of the day you’ve got to be able to have the composure to be able to do the right thing at the right time,” he said.
“You look at Marc Grieg for them. His ability to cut off four or five forward thrusts from us in the end showed that experienced players can really make a difference when the game gets in the balance.
“We had a lot of opportunities in the last quarter and we had more inside-50s again, so we’re not getting enough value from the work that we’re doing.”
When asked to rate the potency of his forward line, German gave it “three out of 10”.
“(Jarrad) Grant missed a few but if he turns them into goals, all of a sudden he becomes an effective player for us in those conditions,” German said.
“It wasn’t a good day for forwards, and these are the days where the unlikely heroes are the ones who step up, like (Ben) Cunnington kicking two in two minutes in the first quarter as a midfielder, and little things like that.”
Sunday’s loss saw Williamstown drop to ninth, but German was bullish about the close nature the team’s last four games, one of which was a draw against Frankston.
“At the end of the day, a lot of the time it can be a toss of the coin, and at the moment it just hasn’t come up heads for us,” he said.
North Ballarat: 11.11 (77) d Williamstown: 9.16 (70)
Goals: North Ballarat: B. Cunnington 4, L. George 2. Williamstown: J. Tutt 3, M. Panos 2.
Best: Williamstown: North Ballarat: B. Cunnington, M. Sewell, M. Searl. J. Wall, B. Goodes.
