By Lachlan Mitchell
Tight encounters, blowout’s and milestones were all a feature of a revved up round four of Southern Football League Division One on Saturday.
Cranbourne was fired up for its clash with East Malvern with club stalwarts Marc Holt and Ryan Davey both celebrating their 250th game.
The Eagles swarmed East Malvern early, with stoppages and a lack of free flowing footy causing the most interruptions.
The game broke open through milestone-man Holt who kicked his first of six for the Eagles. A dominant first-quarter performance by the Eagles saw them lead by 20 at the first change keeping the Panthers scoreless.
East Malvern continued to press in the second quarter, with the Eagles unable to kick clear holding steady a 23-point half-time margin.
Cranbourne was able to finally pull away in the final quarter with a five-goal last stanza seeing them run out 65-point winners.
Springvale Districts was right in the hunt when it faced Mordialloc away from home.
The Demons were missing a raft of big names including Matt Wetering who made his debut for Collingwood’s VFL side.
Springvale lead at half-time by a point and held that point advantage to have a 44-43 point lead going into the final term.
A four-point final-quarter swing saw Mordialloc prevail by three points, winning 7.9.51 to 6.12 48.
Springvale coach Kris Thompson rued missed opportunities in the side’s loss.
“We had six changes from our win against Dingley,” he said.
“The guys that came in are still very capable, and it was disappointing, we had our chances, we just didn’t take them.
“We kicked one goal five in the first quarter. We really should be better, we kicked four behinds in the final quarter and all four really should have been kicked.
“But that’s local footy, last week we took all our chances and we won.”
Port Melbourne got the job done against the Bentleigh Demons in a Saturday twilight fixture.
Demons Joshua Mackie, helping his side, kicked four, but it wasn’t enough to see his side over the line falling 38-points short of the Colts.
St. Kilda had a thrilling five-point win over Dingley at Souter Oval.
Michael Dolan was the best for the Dingoes kicking six goals, but it wasn’t enough.
Daniel Degois continued his form snaring five crucial goal to see his side back on the winners list by five points.
Cheltenham were off and firing against St Paul’s at McKinnon Reserve.
With the scores tied at 33-all at quarter time fans knew they would be in for a treat.
The game continued to sway with St Paul’s having a four-point half-time lead. The Rosellas squawked their way back into the game, and put the foot down in the final term to win by 15 points.
Rosella’s Josh Fox was unstoppable kicking nine goals in his sides win,
RESULTS – ROUND 4
Mordialloc 7.9 51 v Springvale Districts 6.12 48, St. Paul’s McKinnon 11.7 73 v Cheltenham 13.18 88 , Cranbourne Eagles 14.13 97 v East Malvern 4.8 32 , Dingley 12.8 80 v St Kilda City 13.7 85, Bentleigh 8.16 64 v Port Melbourne Colts 13.7 85
LADDER
Cranbourne Eagles 16, Cheltenham, Mordialloc, St Kilda City 12, St Paul McKinnon 8, Dingley, Port Melbourne Colts, Springvale Districts, Bentleigh 4, East Malvern 0.
FIXTURE – ROUND 5
Port Melbourne Colts v St Paul’s McKinnon, Cheltenham v East Malvern, St Kilda City v Mordialloc, Dingley v Cranbourne, Springvale Districts v Bentleigh.
