SATURDAY August 14 looms as D-Day for the Ocean Grove Football Club if they want a piece of the 2010 Bellarine Football League finals.
The Grubbers (10-7) face fourth-placed Torquay (11-6) at Spring Creek Reserve in the final home and away season fixture that will decide Ocean Grove’s finals’ fate.
The winner of the Round 18 Tigers v Grubbers clash will cement a BFL finals berth after Ocean Grove 8.10.58 suffered a 19-point loss to Queenscliff 10.17.77 on Saturday in their final home game of 2010.
Anglesea (10-7), in sixth position, can make finals and although it lost to Geelong Amateur on Sunday, the Kangaroos head into Saturday’s match against the winless Newcomb Power as hot favourites.
Bear in mind both Torquay (122.44%) and Ocean Grove (121.53%) have a more superior percentage than Anglesea (92.17%).
Second-placed Coutas dom-inated the Grubbers from the outset, although the margin flattered the home team in the end as Ocean Grove kept Queenscliff goalless in the last term.
A clearly frustrated Ocean Grove coach Cameron Mc-Gregor said while Queenscliff thoroughly deserved their win, he admitted his team only played one decent quarter and were lucky to only lose by 19 points.
The home side trailed by 44 points at three-quarter time before the Grubbers kicked four unanswered goals in the final quarter.
“They (Queenscliff) had opportunities to blow us away in the first half and they kicked a lot of points,” an honest McGregor said after the match.
“Some of it was the pressure we put on them, some of it was inaccurate kicking from their forwards. “At three quarter-time we were seven goals down and threw caution into the wind and got within three goals.
“We have beaten them once this year and they have beaten us once this year and our worse loss to them has been by 19 points (today) and we played ordinary football.
“Queenscliff had winners all across the ground today.”
The Coutas, who kicked the first three goals, gained the initial ascendancy in the opening quarter and looked the far better equipped team in the wet and slippery conditions.
Dangerous Queenscliff midfielder Roscoe Holmes won numerous centre clearances, while Daniel Measures and Cameron Burnside both played strong games.
Queenscliff coach Heath Jamieson said the emphasis in pre-game planning was to win contested ball on the back of the Grubbers nail-biting two-point win against the Coutas in Round eight.
“The last time we played Ocean Grove they smashed us with contested footy and smashed us in the middle of the ground – so that was a real focus for us to get on top in that area,” Jamieson said.
The visitors took advantage of the Grubbers limited ruck stocks, Coutas’ seasoned big man Joshua Evans had a field day and dominated the stoppages.
The under-size quartet of Tom McManus, Shaun Maloney, Wayde Piec and permanent defender Sam Van Deuren shared ruck duties after Grubber makeshift ruckman Ben Wilkinson missed the match with concussion.
“Yes we need a ruckman, we don’t have a (seasoned) ruckman, they don’t grow on trees we can’t pull someone in this time of year,” McGregor said. “The guys that had a crack at the ruck had a go and they weren’t embarrassed.”
Jamieson said Evans’ dom-inance in the ruck went a long way to ensuring his side’s victory.
“One thing Ocean Grove is struggling with is a key ruckman and I think Josh Evans showed his worth today,” Jamieson said.
“They (Ocean Grove) are not in the finals yet – The Grubbers are playing for their lives so we knew they were going to come out and have a fair go.”
McGregor said everything will go on the line for Saturday’s cut-throat encounter against the Tigers.
Tall defender Harrison Foott and Ben Wilkinson, who both missed Saturday’s match with injury, remain in the mix for selection.
“It comes down to us versus Torquay this week,” he said.
“The conditions suited the Tigers body shapes last time we played, they had some guys in the midfield that were stronger and they were harder over the ball than us.”
Torquay who defeated Ocean Grove by 21 points in Round nine, caused the upset in Round 17 defeating ladder leaders Drysdale in a one point thriller.
Game starts at 2:10pm at Spring Creek Reserve in Torquay on Saturday.
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