Taylors Lakes coach Steve Burns says its “not all doom and gloom” despite costly loss to Westmeadows in EDFL Division 1

TAYLORS Lakes was left to lick its wounds after what was billed as a “massive” Essendon District Football League clash on Saturday.

TAYLORS Lakes was left to lick its wounds after what was billed as a “massive” Essendon District Football League clash on Saturday.

Playing host to Westmeadows, the Lions were looking to open up a two-game gap in third spot on the Division 1 ladder heading into the final eight rounds of the season.

Instead, the two sides now sit even on five wins apiece after the visitors pulled off a six-point victory at Lionheart Reserve, 8.11 (59) to 7.11 (53).

“We all knew it was a massive game for us,” Taylors Lakes coach Steve Burns said.

“If we won that, we were probably feeling pretty comfortable about playing finals footy being three games clear of them and Glenroy.

“But we played terrible all day and didn’t deserve to win.”

While they might not have been deserving of victory, the Lions looked like they were in contention to snatch the four points.

After managing just four goals in the opening three quarters to trail by 21 points at the final change, they powered home with the breeze to kick the first three goals of the term and level the scores with only a few minutes to go.

But Westmeadows hit back with its only goal of the final term in the dying stages of the clash, the Tim Okines major shutting the door on Taylors Lakes’ chances of victory.

Despite the result, the Lions remain third on the ladder and expect to be close to full-strength for this Saturday’s clash with Glenroy after having “between five and seven” of their best 22 players missing each week in recent times.

“I reckon we’ve overachieved a little bit this year,” Burns said.

“With the list we’ve got and the players we’ve had out I think we’ve done pretty well. I’m pretty pleased with where we’re sitting and the games we’ve lost we could have won them all.

“It’s not all doom and gloom, that’s for sure.”

Meanwhile in Premier Division, Keilor collected its seventh win of the season, taking down Airport West by six points.