First Division - Eastern Football League

THE EASTERN FOOTBALLER
9
INSPIRATIONAL VICTORY
FOR THE LIONS
Eastern Lions took the points against The Basin in a nailbiting
finish. In the end it was a margin of just four points, with the
lions kicking the winning goal with just two minutes of the last
term left. Steve White held his nerve and put through a goal
that could give his team the momentum it needs to finish off
their season on a positive note, with a good chance of making
the fourth division finals in 2005; for the first time since 1997
as PAUL JEFFERIES reports.
The home side kicked four of the first five goals in the opening
quarter and with just two goals from the visitors it gave The
Basin a handy seventeen-point lead going into the first break.
Lions Coach Tony Church asked his players to “make sure
they got to the ball first” and also asked of his playing group
“to make sure they manned up against their opponents because
they were just giving the home side to much room in the
middle of the ground.”
All of the lion’s players took those words from the coach into
the second quarter as they outscored the home side four goals
to two. For the Basin Steve Thomas was getting plenty of the
football and also Gabe Gill was getting his hands on the ball
all over the ground which would have encouraged Basin coach
Cameron Gillett. Just before the half time break we saw a hip
and shoulder from Basin big man Rod Mitchell on the Eastern
Lions playmaker Dylan Strydom. As Mitchell made contact
with his opponent, all you hear from the side lines was the
thump of Strydom and Mitchell hitting each other, body on
body, and the Lions player landing on the ground knocked out
cold. It was a sickening to watch, but unfortunately in this
contact sport we play, we will see these things happen;
fortunately for the players and supporters not too often. The
lion’s midfield player had to be taken off the oval with the help
of the trainers. The home side took a slender eight point into
the main break, the Basin were out scored 4 goals to two by
their lower ranked opponents.
Remarkably, after such a hard hit, we did see Strydom come
out with the main playing group after half time and coach Tony
Church just empisized how important he was to the team. “ He
is an inspiration to all the boys and anybody who knows their
football in the EFL knows what a great player he is.” Church
added, “for him to make it back on to the field was just an
inspiration.”
The Lions continued their excellent comeback in the third term
with midfield dynamo Stuart James leading the way with what
was probably a match winning performance.
It was the visitors who where first to put points on the
scoreboard and reduce the home sides lead to just two points
but also immediately the home side hit back with a much
needed goal from Scott Mackey to restore their lead but just
after that the Lions hit the home side with the next three goals
including one from inspirational Dylan Strydom.
The Basin did fight back well, answering the visitors pressure
by scoring the last two goals of the term and took a 3 point lead
into the final quarter. With all to play for in the last period of
play, the attack on the ball from both sides was great and there
was no quarter given or taken as both sets of player. The home
side put through the first goal of the last term when Matthew
Killlian put through his second of the game, but that was it for
the Basin as the visitors went on to score the next three goals
and take all the points by the margin of 4 points with Steve
White putting the winning goal through when the pressure was
really on.
With five wins in a row now, the Eastern Lions have set up
their season well and coach Tony Church was absolutely
delighted with his sides win. “We set our goals five weeks ago
that we needed to win our next four on the trot and we did.”
He added, “we had nothing to lose after those four wins and
we just said we would throw everything at The Basin and at
the end of the day we just came out on top.”
The Eastern Lions now sit two games clear in fourth
spot, after defeating second team The Basin on the
weekend. Photo: Garry Sparke.