Yarraville-Seddon Eagles break winless drought with a three-point victory over Albion Cats in WRFL

YARRAVILLE-Seddon recorded its first win of the season in Western Region Football League Division 1, with a three-point win over Albion on Saturday.

YARRAVILLE-Seddon recorded its first win of the season in Western Region Football League Division 1 on Saturday, defeating Albion by three points in a thriller.

The Eagles were primed for the challenge against the eighth-placed Cats after they ran St Albans within 13 points last week.

Three goals straight in the opening term helped the home side to a three-point lead at quarter-time and by the main break just one point separated the two sides.

The Cats had their chances, but inaccurate kicking prevented them from putting away the determined Eagles.

Albion kicked four third-quarter goals to increase its advantage to 14 points at the final break.

But desperate to break its drought, Yarraville-Seddon held the Cats scoreless in the last term and weight of pressure up forward saw them run away with a 9.6 (60) to 8.9 (57) victory.

Yarraville-Seddon president Tony Sticca said it was great for the players to taste success after a trying campaign.

“The last week it’s been a pretty strong focus for the group, to really lift for this game,” Sticca said.

“It was perfect timing, to have a win on our past players day.”

But Sticca said a three-goal-to-none final quarter against St Albans the previous week provided a catalyst for the victory.

“I think the guys really decided the last few weeks they wanted to play quarter by quarter,” he said.

“It was one of the pivotal quarters of the year (against St Albans).

“It was a massive boost for the guys. If it went another five minutes, we probably could have won it.”

It has been a tough year for the bottom-placed Eagles.

But there is one eye towards the future, says Sticca.

“We never expected to be world beaters,” Sticca said of the Eagles, who won the Division 2 flag in 2012 to earn promotion to the top grade.

“It’s been a very tough year.

“It’s always difficult to start when you’ve lost half a senior team, people that made a decision they were moving on.

“We’ve got a very young team. It’s all very big plusses, the last two weeks in particular.”

In other results, Spotswood fell 21 points short of ladder-leader Deer Park in their grand final rematch.