EFL Division 3: Fairpark snaps seven-game losing streak

Fairpark ended a long run of losses on Saturday as it edged Glen Waverley in the EFL’s Division 3, prompting this feedback from the coach ...

It was the response Fairpark senior coach Sean Stanton was after.

The Lions snapped a seven-game losing streak stretching back to Round 2 on Saturday with a nail-biting victory over Glen Waverley, 12.7 (79) to 10.14 (74).

While the result boosts the club’s hopes of avoiding relegation at season’s end, Stanton said the match meant more than just four points.

A second-half blow-out against last-placed Ferntree Gully the previous week demanded a reply, he said.

“Our second half last week was really poor, and we let ourselves down and that was something we wanted to rectify.”

“Mitch Nied was playing his 100th game who is the heart and soul of the place … as cliché as it is, we genuinely just want blokes to have a crack for four quarters and I reckon throughout the course of the year, we’ve done it for two-and-a-half, three quarters.

“There’s only probably been three times all year where we’ve done it for four quarters, and when we’ve done that, we’ve won.”

Lions ruckman Kyle Hird (left) was best afield. Pictures: Craig Dooley/@ImagesByCraig

The Lions took control in the second term to lead by 22 points at half-time before the Hawks struck back in the third to snatch the lead by six at the final change.

But a depleted bench made the five-goal final-quarter surge all the more meritorious, Stanton said, with key personnel Nick Macente and Cooper Bevis-Chedgey missing through injury.

“They (Glen Waverley) had us on the back foot (in the third quarter) … but the most pleasing part was where in recent weeks we weren’t able to wrestle the game back whatsoever, in the last five or six minutes we certainly worked our way back into the contest,” he said.

“The ability of the playing group to hang in there when they really got challenged and wrestle it back was probably the most pleasing part.”

Fairpark coach Sean Stanton. Pictures: Craig Dooley/@ImagesByCraig

Ruckman Kyle Hird was dominant around the ground in a best afield display for Fairpark, defender Bayley Carlin made the move into the midfield and brought immense pressure while Mason Byrne kicked two crucial goals playing on the wing.

Louis Holmes lit it up for the Hawks in attack with five majors.

Mason Byrne finished among Fairpark’s best. Pictures: Craig Dooley/@ImagesByCraig

The win lifts the eighth-placed Lions to a 3-7 record, and Stanton couldn’t have been prouder of his side’s response.

“I’m actually really proud of the guys,” he said.

“There was enough going against us to say, ‘Here we go again’, and they really dug in and it was a deserving win for the group.”

Fairpark is away to the Waverley Blues in Round 12 while Glen Waverley travels to Ferntree Gully.