Riddell lives to fight another day and sends Macedon packing from RDFL flag race

RIDDELL lived to fight another day after toppling Macedon in a cutthroat clash on Sunday.

Riddell moved through to the preliminary final with a hard-fought win over Macedon. Picture: Andy Brownbill.

RIDDELL lived to fight another day after toppling Macedon in a cutthroat clash on Sunday.

The Bombers won the Riddell District Football League semi-final by less than a kick at Riddells Creek Reserve, 13.5 (83) to 12.8 (80), in what was a genuine arm-wrestle.

It was hard to separate the two sides throughout, Riddell leading by only seven points at halftime and 12 points at three-quarter-time.

The Bombers looked almost home at the 12-minute-mark of the final term, leading by 18 points.

However, Macedon would not go away and kicked three of the last four goals to almost snatch victory.

Jason Cooke had the opportunity to put the Cats in front in the dying minutes, but his shot missed and Riddell immediately flooded its defence and managed to hold on.

“It was a really good game of footy. It was just two tough sides going at it,” Riddell coach Jamie Elliott said.

“It was hard-fought all day. To their credit, our young fellas really stood up and ran the ball and put their heads over the ball which was good.”

Haydn Ross caught the eye through the midfield for the Bombers, while Lachlan Henson provided plenty of run on a wing.

Ben Said and James Nolan were focal points forward, each slotting five goals, while Tim and Scott Walsh also impressed.

Cooke (five goals) was named in Macedon’s best alongside Thomas Waters and Daniel Markworth.

While the result signalled a straight-sets finals exit for Macedon — which fell to Diggers Rest in its qualifying final by 73 points — Riddell will meet Broadford in the preliminary final this weekend, a grand final showdown with Diggers Rest on the line.

“They’ve been a good side all year so they are going to be hard to beat,” Elliott said of Broadford.

“We’ve got a young squad so we’ve just got to keep getting up every week. For the last two weeks the mindset of the players has been pretty good, so we’ll just keep at it and hopefully the young kids can continue to stand up.”