MPFNL Division 1: Mornington and Sorrento share points, Frankston Bombers edge Pines

A “crazy” final nine minutes of pressure footy led to a draw between Mornington and Sorrento, with one coach delivering a stinging summary of his side’s performance.

The siren sounds as Mornington and Sorrento draw. Picture: Craig Barrett

A frenetic finish gave way to the first draw of the season, between Mornington and Sorrento, in MPFNL Division 1 on Saturday.

Mornington captain Adrian Speedy kicked a goal from a free kick at the 20 minute mark to knot scores at 101.

What followed was flat out desperation as both teams tried in vain to edge ahead.

James Hallahan’s long shot for Sorrento just missed and went out on the full.

A series of smothers by Mornington defenders prevented a Sorrento score.

And somehow a Bulldogs shot was saved on the goal line by Myles Poholke. At the siren, the score read 15.11 (101) apiece.

“The desperation became evident…it was a crazy finish,” Sorrento coach Leigh Poholke said.

“Great for local footy.”

Mornington coach Josh Newman said of the hectic final moments: “It was incredible.”

Leigh Poholke addresses his players.

Josh Newman.

While neither coach was satisfied with a draw, Newman felt it was a turning point for his Bulldogs after four successive losses.

“We started to show some really good signs of playing the way we want to play,” Newman said.

Poholke was more forthright, questioning his side’s defensive efforts.

“We’ve got a lot of things to work on,’’ Poholke said.

“We’re a bit of a selfish football team at the moment, we want to play as individuals more so than as a team.

“We have to work on defending the ball better.”

Poholke complimented Mornington on its never-say-die attitude.

“We kicked out to a three goal lead four times and then we make selfish decisions, gave away silly free kicks,’’ Poholke said.

“But hats off to Mornington. They never gave up, never rolled over when we kicked out to those leads.

“Credit to Mornington, they cracked in all day and never faded away and never let us pull away. They stuck at it.’’

The final score at Mornington. Picture: Craig Barrett

Newman said his side went into the game with a plan to “bring the heat”.

“We had a bit of a tough week on the track,’’ he said.

“We had lost a few games in a row and we were probably not happy with the way we were playing and the standard that we were bringing…too many long lapses in games where we weren’t competitive enough…so we tried to ramp up the competitive stuff at training this week and drove a simple message to bring the heat a bit this week. It was a highly contested game.

“Going down by 20 points in the fourth quarter showed a lot of character of the young group to come back and draw the game…it’s hard not to be greedy and want the four points but I think we take a lot of positives out of it.’’

Tim Susovich, Brenton Credlin, Mitchell Bell, Jarrod Hicks and Matthew Caine were best for Mornington.

For Sorrento, which moves up to third spot, Jack Beverley, Shannon Gladman, Liam Buxton, Myles Poholke and Charlie Stokes were best.

Leigh Poholke suffered a badly broken nose in the first quarter and was booked in for surgery on Sunday.

Frankston Bombers coach Jarrad Grant. Picture: Valeriu Campan.

In other games:

*Frankston Bombers came from behind to defeat Pines by seven points, 13.8 (86) to 11.13 (79). Bombers coach Jarrad Grant kicked five goals and Jason Kingsbury, Mitch Harvey, Khan Haretuku, Zac Longham and Jake Hodgson were their best. For Pines, Luke Dalmau and Guy Hendry were best.

*Dromana reaffirmed its status as premiership favourite with a 61-point win over rival Frankston YCW, 17.13 (115) to 7.12 (54). The red-hot Tigers roared to a 6.0 to nil lead in the first quarter as they improved their record to 6-1. Noble Park recruit Ryan Morrison was best afield, while Clayton Gay and Jordan Andrews kicked five goals apiece.

*Youngster Ziggy Toledo slotted four goals to fire Mt Eliza to a 23-point win over Red Hill, 12.19 (91) to 11.2 (68). Jasper O’Neill kicked three goals for the Redlegs, who counted 100-gamer Sam “Tuna” Mourney as their best player, with ruck star Chris Carey also impressing. Oliver Jackson booted five goals for Red Hill, and Torren Powell, Tom Slattery, Danny Allsop and Dan Frampton were among its best players.

*Rosebud banked its second win of the season, defeating Langwarrin 8.8 (56) to 6.10 (46) at Lloyd Park.