EDFL: Charlie Di Stefano produces match winning display for Airport West

Airport West produced one of the upsets of the season behind a young gun who showed composure others lacked while a veteran once again stopped one of the league’s best.

Charlie Di Stefano did what few others could in Airport West’s win over Pascoe Vale — kick straight.

The Eagles young gun finished with three goals on a day where both sides were inaccurate in front of the big sticks.

Airport West eventually won 7.12 (54) to 4.15 (39).

Eagles coach Trent Rogers sung the praises of the former Murray Bushrangers representative who joined the club at the start of the season.

“He’s been in really good form the last six or seven weeks and this just capped it off,” he said.

“All of his goals were from pretty much the first spot, when he went back and had a shot for the first one, we were thinking is he going to make the distance or pass it off? Then it went through half goalpost height.

“Playing on the wing for most of the day, I thought he had quite a balanced performance and produced some fantastic defensive work as well.

“He brings a lot of energy and pressure to our side which is why we’ve loved having him this year.”

Airport West’s 15-point win was built off the back of a strong first half where they managed to hold the second placed Panthers goalless, the home side kicking 0.9.

Having been in similar positions before during the season, Rogers said he was pleased to have seen his side learnt from past mistakes.

“One of the big focal points for us heading into the weekend and last few games was trying to get a win over a top-four side,” he said.

“It’s something we’ve had an opportunity to do earlier in the year but have fallen away in games for different reasons. We got out by 28 points at one stage and even when Pascoe Vale did challenge we were able to keep them at bay.

“They’re second on the ladder for a reason and can score quite quickly so I was impressed with how we handled their pressure.”

Anthony Liberatore, debutant Daniel Torense, Ben Bozinovski and Brendan Godden impressed throughout the afternoon.

But it was Clayton Rogers who again proved why he is such a reliable figure after holding Panthers’ star Matt Watson goalless.

“Clayton matches up really well with him physically,” Rogers said.

“But it helped with our pressure up the ground being so high.”

Airport West will next face Aberfeldie.