Sunbury’s improvement on the road pleases coach Travis Hodgson

After breaking its Ballarat hoodoo last week, Sunbury fell agonisingly short of upsetting reigning premier East Point, vast improvement on previous travels.

Sunbury's Lachie Bramble in action for the Ballarat inter-league team. Picture: Aaron Cook.

Sunbury fell agonisingly short of a massive upset on Saturday, losing to reigning premier East Point by five points in Ballarat.

Ballarat has been far from a happy hunting ground for the Lions in recent seasons, only breaking a two-year hoodoo last week against Lake Wendouree.

Road games in general have been an Achilles heel for Sunbury but the past fortnight has shown the club could be ready to shake off its travel sickness.

Despite the loss, coach Travis Hodgson was pleased with the performance.

“We’ve been much improved (on the road). We got the win last week and all but won on the weekend,” he said.

Nathan Wood in action for Sunbury. Picture: David Crosling

“Unfortunately, you get no points for it but our competitiveness against a good side in Ballarat doesn’t go unnoticed from our point of view.

“It would have been nice to get four points, but ultimately we’re about getting better every week.

“It’s the closest we’ve played to 120 minutes of footy by a long way, so we took a lot of positives out of the game.”

In a finals-like atmosphere, inaccuracy plagued both teams with East Point eking out a 15-point lead at half-time.

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Sunbury found top gear in the third quarter, kicking five goals to peg the margin back to just two points at the final break.

The Lions drew level late in the fourth term but couldn’t put their noses in front and Leigh Brennan missed a chance to draw the game in the dying minutes of the 9.18 (72) to 9.13 (67) defeat.

“Both sides were really wasteful. I think the pressure had a lot to do with it, it was a finals-type game,” Hodgson said.

“They won the flag last year and are regarded as the team to beat again this year but they’d lost their last two so you can imagine how intent they were on not losing three in a row.

Jack Landt in action for Sunbury. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“We had a really steely resolve to back up last week and prove it was no fluke, so the pressure was enormous.”

Mitch Conn was prolific off half-back, while fellow defenders Daylan Kempster and Trent Stead also impressed. Alec Goodson and Lachie Bramble both booted three goals.

Sunbury returns to Clarke Oval on Saturday against cellar-dwellers Ballarat and Hodgson is keen for his players not to lose focus.

“The challenge now is to repeat the effort against a side that has struggled this year in Ballarat,” he said.

“That comes down to professionalism, at our level it’s not hard to take your eye off the ball and relax a little bit.”

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