By LIAM TWOMEY
SUNSHINE successfully held off a fast finishing St Albans on Saturday to secure a nail-biting five point win in the Western Region Football League.
It was a game of shifting momentum throughout the first three quarters as Sunshine jumped away to a 21-point lead at quarter time before increasing that by a further eight points at the main break.
However, St Albans came storming back into the match during a four-goal-to-one third term which saw the margin close to just four points.
The pressure remained high throughout a hard-fought last quarter with both sides desperate at the contest.
It was Sunshine which came out on top and secured the 14.7 (91) to 12.14 (86) win.
Kangaroos coach Brett Jacobs was rapt to come away with the four points.
“They are a quality side and we got on top early but we knew they would come back into the game,” he said.
“They are a very good momentum side and once they strung a couple of goals together they just started working a lot harder and getting a lot more numbers around the ball than we were.
“At three quarter time we identified what we thought we were doing wrong. We knew it was going to be a fight in the last quarter and we just had our noses in front when the siren went but it was one of those games which could have gone either way.
“They are always hard to beat there so I really rate the win as a good one.”
For the third consecutive week Patrick Wiggins was a star on the Sunshine forward line as he kicked six goals and proved to be one of the main differences between the two sides.
Wiggins has now kicked 21 goals from his last three games.
He was well supported by Cameron Taylor and Kieran Murphy who kicked two goals each.
For the Saints, Daniel McKerracher and Craig Brown finished with three goals apiece while Joel West was named the club’s best player.
Saturday’s result sees Sunshine remain in third place on the WRFL ladder with a 5-1 win/loss record for the season.
St Albans sit three places lower in sixth.
This week the Kangaroos will take on Yarraville-Seddon while St Albans will meet Altona.
“To be 5-1 is a pretty good effort. Maybe we didn’t think we would be going this well but internally I do have high expectations of the group,” Jacobs said.
“We haven’t played Spotswood or Altona yet so we know there is still a lot of work to do and it is still early in the season but we believe we have put ourselves in a pretty good position.”
