Macedon defeats top-five rival Kyneton to move closer to RDFNL finals return

Dylan McDonald kicked a clutch late goal to lift Macedon to victory over top-five rival Kyneton and a step closer to a RDFNL finals return.

Sam Indian in action for Macedon. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Macedon has taken a huge step towards a RDFNL finals return.

The Cats held their nerve in a nail-biting four-point win over top-five rival Kyneton at Tony Clarke Reserve on Saturday.

In his third game of the season, Dylan McDonald was the hero, slotting the match-winning goal with just a few minutes left on the clock.

Having led by eight points at three-quarter-time, Macedon found itself behind as Kyneton kicked two quick goals before rallying back to win 8.9 (57) to 8.5 (53).

With six matches remaining, the result sees Macedon move a game clear of the Tigers in fifth place and have a game in hand.

Jason Cooke kicked four goals for Macedon. Picture: Josh Chadwick

Cats coach Al Meldrum said it was good to see his team could “win ugly”.

“It was your typical eight-point game,” Meldrum said.

“It was pretty tight all day, I don’t think either team got a double-digit lead.

“There was a lot on the line for both teams, Kyneton would have been disappointed with last week at Riddell.

“Our boys were prepped for what they had to play for but we quickly reminded them, so did we, having a reasonable percentage gap on them and a game in hand.”

Kyneton controlled the first half, jumping out to a five-point lead at quarter-time and holding onto a four-point advantage at half-time.

However, Macedon found another gear in the second half.

“There was a lot of tension in the game,” Meldrum said.

“It was a mistake-riddled, contested game and I said to the boys mistakes are going to happen but you’ve got to move on, you can’t dwell on it and build up negative tension.

“I could tell they wanted to do well but sometimes that can be counter-productive and I felt like we had a lot of guys putting pressure on themselves.

“We needed to flip the tension into a positive energy and even when Kyneton hit the lead in the last quarter they were able to turn it into positive energy.”

Macedon skipper Jason Cooke finished with a match-high four goals.

Young ruckman Sam Indian was named best-on-ground, while Zach Smedley, McDonald and Aaron Morham also impressed.

Meldrum was rapt to see McDonald’s first goal for the club come at such a critical moment and the off-season recruit get reward after missing the first half of the year through injury.

“Dylan is high-talented, he’s missed a lot of footy with a horror run of injuries,” Meldrum said.

“He had a strong pre-season, played our first practice match and then at training he did his hamstring.

“In that time he’s had two further setbacks so didn’t get to debut until Round 9 against Melton and this was his first back-to-back game.

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“He stepped up late, took a mark, 30 out on a slight angle and it didn’t look like missing and the boys got around him.”

For Kyneton, Caleb Fisher was best afield and Cody Young, Dom Bennington and Tom Burke stood tall.

The Tigers host Melton Centrals in Round 13, while Macedon travels to ladder-leader Riddell.

Elsewhere, the Bombers survived a big scare from Woodend-Hesket in a six-point win, Romsey was too good for Melton Centrals in a 46-point win and Diggers Rest defeated Wallan by 32 points.