Carngham Linton win for the first time since 2019

A country footy club’s near 1400-day winless drought is over after it won a thriller in the season opener with a former AFL player front and centre of the action.

Carngham Linton had built for this moment and it’s come to fruition in Round 1.

The Central Highlands league club broke through for its first win in 1393 days on Saturday after holding on in a thriller 10.8 (68) to 9.10 (64) against Skipton.

It was the Saints first win since 2019.

Remarkably they beat the same opposition on that day.

Club president Gary Spratling couldn’t hide his own emotion.

“It’s been a whole club effort to get here,” he said.

“We couldn’t get everyone into the rooms at the end of the game, I’ll be honest and say there were a few tears. This hasn’t just happened during the previous off-season, there has been a lot of hard work put in over the last couple of years.

“We’ve seen the improvement in this team throughout the off-season and even at three-quarter-time, you could sense there was more improvement in the game itself.

“Everyone was right behind the boys in that last quarter, as soon as the netballers had finished their own games they were on to cheer them on.

“Skipton were amazing, their speech in the rooms post-game was amazing. We’re great rivals and we’ve got great respect for each other. They spoke really well and deserve a lot of credit for how they played as well.”

Tyson Scoble. Picture: David Caird

Among the biggest changes in the off-season was the return of Nick O’Brien, a former Essendon midfielder, and he made an immediate impact in his first outing.

With the game on the line in the last quarter, he shot to life with 14 touches and a goal.

“His last quarter was enormous,” Spratling said.

“Along with his brother Dean, the boys were fantastic. We’ve put a lot of time into our younger guys over the past couple of years and I think they grew another leg playing alongside those guys.

“There were some times where it was a little bit worrying especially when Skipton got ahead but to the boys credit they fought back and wrestled back momentum.

“It was such a relief when that siren went. It was getting the monkey off the back.”

Unfortunately it was a footy double with the reserves beaten by 17 points.

Remarkably, 18 players missed the game across both including four through injury.

Carngham will now turn their attention to a clash with Rokewood next weekend.