VAFA 2018: Canterbury falls short of upset against Glen Eira to miss out on finals

Canterbury fell agonisingly short in its quest to take down top-of-the-table Glen Eira in their Division 3 clash at the Canterbury Sports Ground on Saturday.

Canterbury fell agonisingly short in its quest to take down top-of-the-table Glen Eira in their Division 3 clash at the Canterbury Sports Ground on Saturday.

Needing a win to keep its finals dream alive, the Cobras put up a brave fight but fell two points shy of the flag favourites after the visitors stormed home in the second half to win 12.12 (84) to 13.8 (86).

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Canterbury jumped out of the blocks and led the Griffins by three goals at quarter-time.

Extending the lead to 45 points at the main break, the Cobras were looking every bit a finals team.

But Glen Eira is the flag favourite for a reason and they slammed on 11 goals to three after halftime to snatch a last gasp win and break the hearts of the Canterbury faithful.

Canterbury fell just short in its bid to claim a spot in VAFA finals.

Cobras skipper Sean Hanrahan was disappointed after the game but happy his side had put up a good performance against the best side in the competition.

“They are a very good side and there is a reason they are on top of the ladder,” he said.

“Yes it is disappointing not to win but I thought we did a good job really and we almost stole it in the end.

“We did really well in the first half and at half time we knew they were going to respond. We talked about it at the break and we knew we needed to maintain our pressure on them but once they got on top they were hard to stop.

“There was a huge wind blowing to one end and in the third quarter they were kicking with it and they kicked seven goals, which got them back in the game.”

Best for the Griffins included Stuart Carey, Julian Stone and Jess Maxfield while, for the Cobras, Martin Astbury at centre half-forward tried hard as did Nick Szabo and Alex Wheeler.

Next week, Aquinas will do battle with Westbourne Grammarians in the first semi-final while Hawthorn will take on Glen Eira in the second semi-final.

This week, Hawthorn denied neighbours Swinburne University a place in the finals with a 13.19 (97) to 11.10 (76) win.

Meanwhile, after kicking nine goals to two in the second half, second-placed St Kevins ran out easy winners over third-ranked Old Brighton in their Premier clash 13.15 (93) to 6.5 (41) while Old Scotch had the better of St Bedes/Mentone Tigers, 10.13 (73) to 8.11 (59).

In Premier C, Old Camberwell won a neighbourhood derby against St Mary’s Salesian 23.9 (147) to 7.10 (52) at Ferndale Park.

And in Division 1, Kew took out West Brunswick 10.15 (75) to 6.7 (43) at Ransford Oval to finish the season in eighth place.