Ocean Grove Voice - Your Local Newspaper

A NINE-goal opening quarter blitz helped Ocean Grove lay the foundations for a comfortable 38-point win against Torquay on Saturday at Ocean Grove, writes Mark Heenan.

The Grubbers, who lead by 49 points at quarter time, won 21.10.136 to Torquay’s 14.14.98.

The return of imposing forward Matt Jovanovic, who booted three goals in the first quarter, and key midfielder Mark Laidler helped shaped their side’s crucial win.

Laidler had an impact in front of goal kicking four majors, while exciting utility Kelly Williams, Ben Ricardo and youngster Daniel Sheather all played major roles in the win.

Ocean Grove coach Matt Payne was rapt with his team’s high level intensity start after the club’s shattering seven-point loss to Queenscliff in Round seven.

“The Queenscliff game was something we are not proud of, we didn’t compete for the whole game, we were very disappointed in our efforts,” Payne said.

“The emphasis today was to get in and really have a go for 120 minutes and play real good team orientated footy and put them under pressure.”

While the Tigers showed glimpses of brilliance with its fluent ball movement during the second half, the visitors were never in a position to overhaul the Grubbers on the scoreboard.

And while Torquay outscored Ocean Grove after quarter time, Payne did not appear overly concerned with his side’s modest return of three goals in the final quarter.

The Grubbers faded badly against Queenscliff in Round seven and Barwon Heads almost snatched an unlikely victory in the final minutes of its Round six encounter.

“I think we play collision footy and the type of game we expect them to play is taxing.”

“We had to rotate a few at the end Mark Hounslow come off injured and Simo (Simon Molloy) come off injured.

“Rotating them around disrupts your whole set up and balance.”

While Ocean Grove suffered injuries to Molloy (shoulder) and Hounslow (hamstring) the Grubbers are set to bolster its line-up against Portarlington this Saturday with inspirational skipper James Dalton set to return.

This weekend’s match is at Portarlington. Game starts at 2.10pm and then the next home game is against Modewarre.

In other news Ocean Grove’s (9.12.66) reserve grade defeated Torquay (7.11.53) while the Grubbers Under 18’s (7.15.57) beat the Tigers (5.11.41) by 16 points. Prior to the game both Grove and Tigers under 18s were both unbeaten.