Westmeadows fights back to win first EDFL final in 14 years

Westmeadows won its first EDFL final in more than a decade in dramatic fashion. Now the team has its sights set on premiership glory.

Westmeadows won their first finals match in more than a decade. Picture: Stuart Milligan

The drought has been broken.

And Westmeadows now firmly believes it can be a major player in the rest of the EDFL Division 2 finals series.

The Tigers won their first final in 14 years in dramatic style on Sunday, overcoming the Northern Saints by one point in the elimination final.

The match had it all, wild weather that forced a delay and Westmeadows storming back from a 42-point deficit at quarter-time.

Kicking with the breeze Northern Saints kicked seven goals to one before Westmeadows fought back in the second term.

But the Tigers couldn’t reduce the margin significantly, being wasteful in front of goal with 2.10.

It didn’t deter Westmeadows who fought on in the second half, as the wind died down, to take the lead in the final term and hold on.

Westmeadows, pictured earlier this year, fought back from 42 points down at quarter-time to win. Picture: Westmeadows Football Netball Club.

Despite the Northern Saints having the last four shots on goal in the game, the Tigers held on.

“Everyone was smiling and crying (after the win),” Westmeadows coach Ash Flavel said.

“There wasn’t carry on.

“It was all the joy that was brought to the long servants of the club.”

But it wasn’t all joy early on.

“A lot players were down in the first half,” Flavel said.

“Half-time I gave them a real spray as we were not playing anywhere near our best.

“I was pleased with the boys because they responded and got back into the game.

“Riley Hearne, Luke Smith and Aaron Evans were our standouts for us for the whole four quarters but the others stepped up (in the second half).”

But the Westmeadows coach knows the first half won’t stack up against the top two teams.

The Tigers face Burnside Heights this week before potentially facing Taylors Lakes in the decider if the team wins this week.

“I said ‘we’re lucky to get through but we can’t afford to be doing it this week’,” Flavel said.

“Now the monkey is off the back.

“The fact we’ve got through now, we’ve got nothing to lose.

Flavel added with the team beating Burnside Heights earlier this year and drawing to Taylors Lakes it knows what it needs to do to win.

“If we bring our best football and for longer in the contest we can beat anyone,” he said.

“And that’s one thing we’ve spoken about.

“The players know we can beat both sides.”

The preliminary final will be held at 2.15pm on Saturday at Salesian College.