By ADEM SARICAOGLU
EAST Keilor has advanced to a preliminary final in Division Two of the Essendon District Football League after knocking out local rival Keilor Park on Saturday.
In a clinical display at Coburg City Oval, the Cougars staked their claim as a serious threat to division favourite Hillside by eliminating their neighbours with a 43-point win.
Leading at every change, East Keilor controlled large portions of the game and continually got more numbers to key contests throughout the day, stifling Keilor Park all over the ground.
Coach David Battistella credited his side’s fitness around the ground with the result afterward.
“We always knew we could run well in the wide open spaces,” Battistella said.“Although goal to goal it’s not massive here, if you needed space and you couldn’t find it on this ground then you’re struggling and I just felt that if we could run all day, that’s where we were going to get them.”
Keilor Park coach Rob McCluskey was understandably disappointed with the result, and admitted his side was second to ball on too many occasions on Saturday.
“We just had probably four or five decent players for the day and you can’t win games of football with too few doing too much,” McCluskey said.
“You need to have everyone on the day and they had a lot of contributors, they had a more even spread across the ground – and as I said, our guys just didn’t come to play.”
East Keilor stormed out to a 25-point break by quarter-time before extending that lead out to 38 by the half.
The Devils then managed to wrest back control for most of the third quarter but couldn’t penetrate up forward, as marks inside 50 proved hard to come by.
While McCluskey remains upbeat about the vastly positive turnaround of his club in the past 12 months, a few home truths were told in the rooms afterward.
“We’ve got to work harder, get to know each other and need to be committed, not involved,” he responded when asked about his post-game message.
“Committed means giving 100 per cent, 100 per cent of the time. Involved means you give 100 per cent when you can be bothered.”
Key East Keilor pillar Dion Hill sat out most of the final term and looked to be hobbling coming off the ground, but Battistella is confident he’ll be right to go for next week’s preliminary final against Moonee Valley.
“He’s all right, he’s just landed awkwardly – but I don’t think there’ll be any structural damage,” he said.
The winner between East Keilor and Moonee Valley will meet Hillside in the decider at Windy Hill on Saturday week.
