The Calder Cannons are one step closer to cementing a top four spot after taking care of the Oakleigh Chargers by seven goals in Craigieburn on Saturday, as Adem Saricaoglu reports.
Down by nine points at three-quarter time, the Cannons took advantage of a strong breeze with nine goals to one in the last quarter in a dominant midfield display.
Daniel Markworth was the star up forward for Calder with five goals, while Rory Atkins, Jack Sheahan and Jordan Iudica each chipped in with two each.
The tricky cold and windy conditions forced both clubs into running the ball early in the game as kicking became difficult.
Kicking against the breeze, the Cannons grabbed control of the game in the first quarter and were able to answer every Oakleigh challenge on the scoreboard.
Calder led by nine points on the quarter time siren but Jack Solomon’s miss from directly in front could have made it 15 with the breeze in the backs for the second term.
Jake Young stretched the margin to 17 points half way through the second, but Oakleigh’s effort into the wind was resilient.
They refused to shoot for goal from more than 30 metres out, and kept penetrating Calder’s last line of defence.
At the 20-minute mark they finally broke through, with Daniel Pearce marking and goaling from the goal-square.
However four minutes later Markworth made use of the wind with a long-range six pointer before another goal put the Cannons 25 in front.
By half time the margin was pegged back to 18, but Oakleigh needed to take advantage of the increasingly stronger breeze blowing to the southern end in the third quarter.
It took the Chargers 10 minutes to get into the third quarter, but once they did, the goals came flooding through.
Goals to Nick Murphy and Damien Mascitti had the Chargers in front by the 19-minute mark, before a brilliant goal from the boundary by Anthony Soriano extended the margin to nine.
Oakleigh kept pressing but became wasteful in front of goal; although a strong effort from Calder’s back line ensured the margin stayed within single digits by the final change.
A strong Markworth grab resulted in the Calder’s first goal of the final term within the first minute, before Brandon Ellis put them back in front two minutes later.
Brandyn Grenfell and Jordan Angus were dominant in the ruck for the Cannons as the ball was constantly belted into attack.
Sheahan and Markworth goaled again before Atkins finished a dogged team goal with class to seal the game by the 12-minute mark.
By the final siren the margin had blown out to 42 points on what was an extremely cold day at Highgate Reserve.
Calder Cannons: 18.13 (121) d Oakleigh Chargers: 11.13 (79)
Last Modified on 01/08/2011 12:31
