Majok Aneet puts a huge tackle on his Dandenong Stingrays opponent on Saturday. 83485_09 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By LIAM TWOMEY
FOUR final quarter goals lifted the Dandenong Stingrays to an impressive 32-point win against the Western Jets at Burbank Oval on Saturday.
Both sides needed four points going into the match with the Stingrays looking to push for a top four spot on the ladder and the Jets hoping to keep their finals hopes alive following an impressive mid-season revival.
With the stakes high, nothing could separate the two sides for most of the contest as the highly talented Stingrays quickly made up for a slow start to take a 14-point lead into half-time.
The margin hovered around that area until the 15-minute mark of the final quarter when the Dandenong players were able to kick multiple late goals to seal the win 11.14 (80) to 6.12 (48).
Western Jets’ coach Steve Kretiuk was disappointed in a number of skill and decision making errors his playing group made throughout the match.
“Generally our effort at the contest was pretty good. It was just everything surrounding that contest that brought us undone,” he said.
“There were a lot of times when we did the hard work inside and all of a sudden we were just about to break the game open and we missed a really basic target and then we were caught off-side a bit. They certainly used the ball a lot better than we did and they were able to capitalise on our errors.
“They are a very good side and had eight players in the state squad which goes to show there is a fair bit of depth in their list and we just didn’t capitalise on our opportunities.”
Despite the loss, Anthony Piva was a standout for the Jets, booting four goals playing through the midfield while Josh Benchalso continued his great run of form in recent weeks.
Kretiuk was impressed with the efforts of both players after the game.
“Anthony started forward and we put him in the midfield and at one stage he was our only goal scorer,” Kretiuk said.
“He kept moving and kept working hard and he got the results. It was probably his best game for 12 months.
“Josh Bench is continuing to have an outstanding year. His last month of footy has been as good as anyone’s I’ve seen. He is really backing himself in and he is playing with a sense of confidence which is great.”
The result sees the Jets fall to ninth on the TAC Cup ladder. The season isn’t about to get any easier this week either with Western set to take on the Murray Bushrangers.
