Old Eltham loses race to the Victorian Amateur Football Association Division 2 double chance to St Mary’s Salesian

Old Eltham Collegians’ hopes of a securing a top two spot, and the double chance, were dashed by a heavy defeat at the hands of St Mary’s Salesian on Saturday.

s07pp203 VAFA (Div 2): st marys salesian v old eltham collegians at Ferndale Park, Glen Iris. St Marys Salesian No. 42 Braedon McLean gets the ball away from Eltham Collegians NO. 6 and 63. Picture: Sarah Matray

Old Eltham Collegians’ hopes of a securing a top two spot, and the double chance, were dashed by a heavy defeat at the hands of St Mary’s Salesian on Saturday.

Prior to the game, both sides had 12 wins and were eager to secure a place in the top two.

Things didn’t start well for Turtles as the home side raced to a 29-point lead at quarter time.

After dragging the margin back at half time, Old Eltham started the third quarter well.

“We had an exceptional first 11 minutes in the third term,” Old Eltham coach Jason McBean said. “And then we allowed them to kick eight unanswered goals in the last 20 minutes.

“We pretty much got blown out of the water after half-time by a better opposition.”

St Mary’s all but secured a top two birth with the 16.15 (112) to 7.12 (54) win.

“We’ll live to fight another day and absolutely we can be a big factor come finals time,” McBean said.

“There were no excuses we’d won nine straight before this game, but we were missing two key forwards in Andrew Hargrave and Sabastian Ciavola as well as another two midfielders.”

Elsewhere in Division 2, Old Paradians was defeated by St Johns, 11.10 (76) to 10.6 (66), while, in Division 3, Emmaus St Leos beat La Trobe University 8.13 (61) to 2.4 (15).