Eastern Ranges fought off a late rally by the Calder Cannons to emerge victorious by 20 points at Visy Park on Sunday.
The Cannons trailed for the majority of the game, until they hit the lead half way through the fourth quarter.
But the Ranges were unyielding and capped off an impressive 15.9 (99) to 12.7 (79) win with two late goals under pressure.
Eastern raced out of the blocks and led 19-0 before the Cannons hit the scoreboard.
Ranges coach Darren Bewick said his team’s confidence was high after two wins on the trot.
“I was really happy with their effort and their ability to stick to plans and follow instructions so I couldn’t be happier with them today,” Bewick said.
Eastern outplayed Calder in almost every facet of the game and their clearance work, in particular, was first rate.
Alexander Greenwood and Dalton Graham were terrific around stoppages and they were complemented by Damien Volta and Hayden Crozier who provided outside run.
The first quarter saw a scoring spree as Eastern kicked six goals to Calder’s four, despite only one goal to star forward Jonathon Patton.
Patton was locked in an enthralling contest with fellow Vic Metro squad member Michael Talia and it proved to be a decisive contest with Talia taking the honours.
Despite Patton’s influence being restricted, the Ranges had 13 individual goal kickers which was the difference in the end.
At the other end of the ground Calder’s Andrew Gallucci was clever around goals and proved difficult to contain for Eastern.
Team-mate Daniel Markworth led hard as a hit up forward and Ben Drummond was creative for his team on the wing.
Calder coach Martin Allison said his team was comprehensively outplayed.
“I thought they (Eastern) were terrific all over the ground, and hats off to them I thought they were much better,” Allison said.
In the third quarter the Cannons attacked with vigour, but did not take full account on the scoreboard.
At three quarter time Calder trailed by just five points and a goal to Brad Fenner early in the term gave them a one point lead.
However, it was Eastern who kicked four out of the next five goals to seal the result.
Bewick said he was proud of his team’s fighting spirit.
“To get challenged like they did and then fall behind early in the last quarter and then come back was really pleasing and we’ll take a lot of confidence out of that,” he said.
By Ben Guthrie
Calder Cannons
Goal Kickers:A. Gallucci 4, D. Markworth 2, T. Sheridan 2, J. Fenner , J. Burgess , O. Uysal , B. Cronin
Best Players: M. Talia, T. Sheridan, A. Gallucci, B. Drummond, D. Markworth, P. Sahlberg
Eastern Ranges
Goal Kickers: D. Agnew 2, A. Papa 2, L. Cope , N. Sargent , S. Scott , D. Volta , J. Field , M. Bussey , J. Patton , N. Mill , D. Del Papa , A. Greenwood , D. Graham
Best Players: A. Greenwood, B. Slattery, D. Volta, D. Graham, P. Lawlor, H. Crozier
Last Modified on 20/04/2011 12:44