Southern league 2019: Port Melbourne Colts thrash Highett to jump into top five

It’s tight at the top in Division 1 of the Southern league, with Dingley moving to first, Cheltenham dropping to third and Port Colts advancing to fifth.

Lindsay Gilbee has steered Port Melbourne Colts to three wins on the spin and to fifth on the ladder with two rounds to play.

The whips are cracking and the Colts are coming.

Port Melbourne Colts on Saturday jumped to fifth on the Division 1 ladder after defeating Highett at Murphy Reserve, their third consecutive success.

With two rounds to play Lindsay Gilbee’s team is four points clear of Mordialloc, which dropped to sixth with its loss to Dingley.

Saturday’s round of matches brought a shuffling of ladder positions.

With Cheltenham falling to East Malvern by two points, the Rosellas fell from first to third, Dingley taking over the top slot.

The Colts were expected to be an improver this season and they’ve made steady progress under former Dogs star Gilbee.

A five-point loss to St Paul’s In Round 14 had them under pressure but they’ve rallied despite the absence of star ruckman Matthew Dalla-Libera.

He’s due back in the final round from a four-match suspension.

“We’re hitting some good form at the right time, finding some continuity,’’ Gilbee said.

“Still room for improvement and if everyone stays injury-free we should have our best team on the park when it matters most.’’

Club great Brad Sutcliffe was best-afield on Saturday, league medal contender Matt Sondergeld was busy again, and Tom Nicholls (four) and Lachlan Harris (three) contributed more than half of the Colts’ goals in a 12.21 (93) to 8.4 (52) success.

It was a strong return from a hamstring injury for Nicholls.

“We should have won by a lot, lot more,’’ Gilbee said.

“If we’d kicked straight we could have won by 100 points and really helped our percentage. Wasn’t to be but we played some good footy and we got the four points we were after.’’

The Colts visit seventh-placed Bentleigh in Round 17.

Cheltenham coach Des Ryan.

At Dunlop Reserve, East Malvern nosed out Cheltenham 6.4 (40) to 5.8 (38).

Sixteen points down at the last change, the Rosellas finished well and had a chance to win the match with a Will McTaggart kick. It was touched and went through for a point.

“We didn’t play well enough. Only played probably 20 minutes,’’ Rosellas coach Des Ryan said.

“Obviously they were difficult conditions all across town but we let them kick away … if we’d got up it might have swept a few things under the mat. But now it’s a little bit rawer and we can look at it for what it is.’’

Ryan said teams were “ramping up and really having a crack at us’’.

“You can’t really afford to drop any and we’ve dropped our last two and it’s brought us back to the field,’’ he said. “I think we can bounce back. We’ve played too much good footy to throw it away.’’

The Rosellas were missing Charlie Kelso and Drew Kelly but are due to regain Jack Barclay.

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Dingley grabbed first place and pushed Mordialloc from the top five when it finished over the top of the Bloods to triumph by 30 points at Ben Kavanagh Reserve.

Barely a kick separated the sides for three quarters but the final term belonged to the Dingoes, whose four unanswered goals propelled them to victory 10.13 (73) to 6.7 (43).

Remmi Wood (three goals) continued his form and Vergim Faik, Chris Horton-Milne and Lucas Walmsley were also instrumental in the Dingoes’ success.

Chris Gleeson, Dave Marguglio and Ryan Semmel were the pick of the Bloods, who now have the job ahead of them to climb back into finals contention.

St Paul’s ruled their low-scoring tussle with Oakleigh District to win by 35 points at McKinnon Oval.

The Doggies did what they had to do, with James Sziller, Jake Pirovano and Rhys Peet leading the way. Crafty Steve Muller provided a focus up forward with five of his team’s nine goals.

Bentleigh coach Pete Pirera.

Bentleigh kept is “mathematical’’ finals prospects alive when it snatched victory by five points against St. Kilda City at the Peanut Farm.

“It was a ripping game of footy,” Bentleigh coach Peter Pirera said.

“It could have gone either way. It was tough going and St Kilda City’s run was fantastic. I think they beat us on the outside, but our grunt was terrific.”

It was probably appropriate that Jake Anderson booted the sealer for the Demons with a few minutes left on the clock.

“Jake was fantastic for us today, as was Roland Stagg,” Pirera said.

Ruckman Mitch Smart was arguably Bentleigh’s best, although he was off the field for most of the final quarter. Liam Hogton-Hewish, who had been solid in defence, filled Smart’s boots adequately when moved into the ruck.

Corbin Sutherland’s four goals were also major contributions. “Corbin kicked two crucial goals for us,” said Pirera. “One of them from the boundary was sensational.”

The Saints could consider themselves a little unlucky with the ball in their goalsquare with only seconds remaining. Prize recruit Bill Hartung played what was possibly his best game since joining the Saints, with support from Josh Cochrane, Jordan Tabakman and Misilifi Faimalo.

City’s finals hopes are gone, while the Demons are still in the hunt.

“We have to win both games and hope other results fall our way,” Pirera said.

“Regardless of what happens, I believe we have had a good year considering we have had to rebuild our team and have had an unbelievable run of injuries. A few close losses have also impacted on our chances, but we are building a great list and I think you’ll see a different Bentleigh next season.”