EFL 2018: Mulgrave scores its first win of the Eastern Football League season after a four-point win over Mooroolbark
MOOROOLBARK’S season to forget went from bad to worse after Mulgrave upset the Mustangs to score their first win of the Division 2 season, ending a 13-game losing streak.
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MOOROOLBARK’S season to forget went from bad to worse after Mulgrave upset the Mustangs to score their first win of the Division 2 season and give Anthony Goodwin his first victory as coach.
The Lions trailed at every change but were in front when it counted, coming away with a 7.15 (57) to 8.13 (61) victory to snap a 13-game losing streak.
It was left to Baxter Leece to give Mulgrave the come-from-behind win, slotting the matchwinner on the run from about 30m out.
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“I would say they were in front for 90 per cent of the game ... we hit the front, they hit the front and then we were able to kick that last goal and pretty much killed the game in the last three or four minutes,” Goodwin said.
“We played some pretty good football ... luckily enough we were in front at the end of the game so it was quite pleasing for the boys.”
The result cost Mooroolbark a golden opportunity to skip clear of the relegation zone and all but secure its place in the second tier for 2019.
Instead, the defeat leaves the Mustangs still fighting for a place in next year’s Division 1 competition with a 3-9-1 record, just one game and percentage clear of Mitcham.
Mooroolbark was left to stew over an inaccurate third quarter when it booted 0.8 as Mulgrave trimmed a 27-point halftime deficit to one straight kick at the final change.
“They could have quite easily put us away in that third quarter but bad kicking is bad football,” Goodwin said.
“We never gave up, our effort, our pressure, I thought one thing that really improved from one half to the next half was just our execution.”
Goodwin said the overriding emotion was relief that the Lions had broken through for their first win since Round 17 last year.
“We’ve played some OK footy the past four weeks so I’m pretty glad we played close to a four-quarter effort. I was stoked, really stoked,” he said.
“Just seeing all the happy faces, mums and dads and supporters, volunteers, we’ve had a hard year but our group has just been really resilent.”
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