Greensborough breaks two-game losing streak against dogged Hurstbridge
Greensborough put its post-lockdown struggles to an end with a battling win over Hurstbridge ahead of a critical fortnight in the finals race.
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Greensborough snapped out of its post-lockdown struggles, ending a NFL Division 1 two-game losing streak on Saturday.
It wasn’t pretty but a big fourth quarter saw the battling Borough claim a 39-point win over a dogged Hurstbridge outfit at War Memorial Reserve.
Leading by 10 points at three-quarter-time, Greensborough piled on 5.4 to the Bridges 0.5 to get its season back on track.
After winning four games straight before the break, Borough coach Mick Harford conceded the lockdown had broken the club’s momentum
While he admitted he couldn’t put a finger on the lacklustre fortnight, he was pleased with the response.
“Everyone was just a bit flat, it took us a little bit of time to get going,” he said.
“It’s an interesting period of the season, we were going really well before the break and obviously that three-week break broke the momentum.
“Hopefully we get our mojo back and roll through the next two weeks into the bye and build our form back to time our run to be playing solid footy at the end of the season.
“We’d had a couple of down weeks, so it was nice for the group to see they could still do it.
“It took us a while, Hurstbridge are a strong willed opposition, they never really go away, but it was pleasing in the end.”
John Desmond was named best-on-ground in the 11.16 (82) to 5.13 (43) win, while inspirational captain Chris Clark and Nick Riddle also impressed.
Ben Pannam led the way up forward with three goals and Tom Bell added two majors.
“John’s had a really interrupted year, he hurt himself in the first game against Whittlesea and was just getting back before we went into lockdown,” Harford said.
“He’s working his way back into the season, I thought he was exceptional.
“Chris is a warrior, he never gives in, he’s the life of the place. He’s a terrific captain, terrific player and heavily under-rated.”
Lachie East was Hurstbridge’s best in the loss, while Mitch Dale, Ben Beaven and Riley Reading were also strong contributors.
However, the Bridges could be without leading goalkicker Joel Naylor next week against North Heidelberg after he was concussed in the first quarter.
Despite the win, Greensborough drops to third on the ladder following Bundoora’s big win over Heidelberg.
The Borough host Whittlesea this week before a trip to Montmorency before a competition bye.
Harford expected a tight race for the double chance and knows his team can’t afford any more unexpected slip ups.
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“I know Whittlesea are itching for another victory and obviously Monty got us earlier in the year in a strange old game,” he said.
“We’ll have a couple of guys back this week, Nathan Hrovat will play, I don’t think we’ve played our full team at any stage this year.
“It will be nice to get our full squad back and get some guys in form for the back end of the year.”
Hurstbridge sits eighth, three games ahead of last-placed Northcote Park but now two games back of Macleod and seemingly out of finals contention.
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