St Mary’s survive Thomastown comeback to claim ‘character defining’ win
Tane Cotter kicked a clutch match-winning goal to lift St Mary’s to an epic win over Thomastown, denying a gallant Bears fightback.
Northern
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St Mary’s coach Fabian Carelli described Saturday’s thrilling NFL Division 2 win over Thomastown as “character defining”.
The Burras survived a second half “barrage”, twice fighting back after the Bears had taken the lead in the final quarter to emerge victorious by eight points at Main Street Reserve.
In his second game back from injury Tane Cotter was the hero, kicking a clutch goal from the boundary with just minutes left on the clock to put his team in front for good.
Trailing by 36 points at half-time, Thomastown roared home but will rue inaccuracy, going down 15.10 (100) to 13.14 (92).
Carelli was proud of his team’s resolve under immense pressure.
“I thought it was defining for us, character defining, in the way we were able to withstand the barrage,” he said.
“We’d obviously got out to a great lead at half-time and played some fantastic footy and in typical Thommo fashion, they never lie down, they came at us hard in the second half.
“In the last, especially when they hit the front, I thought the boys were out on their feet.
“We kept coming and I thought it was a character defining moment for the players and club to come out on top.
“We were on top in every facet of the game in the first half and then we fell away for a quarter and got smashed but we picked our feet back up and rallied.”
The win has come at a cost for St Mary’s.
In his first game back from injury Jack Dean re-injured his hamstring, while Nick Gedge (hamstring), Joseph Maggio (ankle) and Cooper Bruce (shin) also failed to finish the match.
In positive news, co-captain Myles Gulden made his return in the reserves and is likely to face Lower Plenty on Saturday.
Zane Costello was the Burras’ best in victory, booting four goals, and taking a string on critical marks around the ground.
“Zane had probably the best game I’ve seen him play at senior level,” Carelli said.
“He kicked a bag against Epping last year and that was a great game but on Saturday he took some great contested marks, led up at the footy and helped us out in the ruck – he was huge.
“He was taking contested marks up on the wing and deep forward, he and Nick Dean have a licence to share the workload up the ground.”
Daniel Chadwick, Josh Beare (four goals), Anthony Capeci (three goals) and Eric Hatzis were Thomastown’s best in defeat.
Tyrone Leonardis was a late withdrawal before the game in a blow to the Bears but he is expected to be fit for the clash against Watsonia.
The win keeps St Mary’s in fifth but it doesn’t get any easier for the finals hopeful with a trip to Lower Plenty on the back of a loss to Diamond Creek.
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DIV 3: SOUTH MORANG BOUNCES BACK DESPITE INJURY LIST
Carelli said it would be a big test of the club’s top-five ambitions.
“We’d pencilled in these couple of games to stand up because it could hold us in good stead in our push towards finals,” he said.
“It shows we’re on the right track and I’ve said before it’s about sustaining it for four quarters.
“Once we find that consistency and go for four quarters week-in, week-out we’ll be on the upward trajectory.”
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