By ADEM SARICAOGLU
POOR kicking proved fatal for the Western Jets in the TAC Cup on Sunday and they went down by 11 points in their first of three outings at Burbank Oval.
Despite registering 10 scoring shots to Dandenong’s four in the opening term, the Jets could only muster an 11-point buffer by quarter time.
By halftime it was whittled down to four, setting up an enthralling second half that promised to go down to the wire.
The Jets were again wasteful early in the third term before the class of small forward Ben Said steadied the ship with a goal that put the lead back beyond a kick.
However, three goals the other way within seven minutes turned the game on its head, and by the halfway mark of the quarter it was Dandenong boasting a double-figure lead.
Said broke that run of goals with his second major of the term minutes later, before a long set shot bomb from David Iaccarino brought the game back within a kick once more.
At three-quarter time the Jets were down by just three points, despite having seven more scoring shots on the board.
Coach Torin Baker’s final change rev up was ringing in the ears of a fired-up James Sicily at the start of the final term.
Playing out of the goal square, Sicily marked and goaled twice within the first five minutes of the final term to restore the Jets an-eight point lead.
However the next four goals went to Dandenong, which managed to control the game for most of the second half with the help of Nathan Gardiner, who bagged seven goals for the day.
Baker was admittedly disappointed after the game.
“We had enough of the footy to kick us a winning score and we just didn’t convert well today, and we didn’t make the most of our opportunities going forward,” he said.
“Dandenong did and full credit to them, they were really good in the way they executed up forward and as it turned out that was the difference in the game.”
The loss lowered the Jets from third down to sixth on the ladder, after the previous week’s one-point win over Oakleigh was changed to a draw on Wednesday.
The scoring error was picked up by Champion Data while coding vision from the game.
