Finals bound St Mary’s outplay feisty Wanderers in another show of footy smarts

ST MARY’S continued their preparations for a return to finals football with a classy win over Wanderers at TIO Stadium

St.Mary's Maurice Rioli Jr kicked one of the goals of the match in the win over Wanderers.

ST MARY’S continued their preparations for a return to finals football with a classy win over Wanderers at TIO Stadium last night.

The Saints overcame a sloppy start to the third quarter when Wanderers booted three successive goals to win by 63 points and move to within a game of ladder leaders Nightcliff.

Michael Cooper’s application for goal of the season highlighted a tight first quarter where scoring from both sides was kept to a minimum.

Cooper ran around two Saints defenders before turning on to his left foot where he goaled

from 35 metres.

But finding a way to goal was becoming a problem for Wanderers against a St Mary’s defence led by Braxton AhMat, Adam Parry and Jack Long.

The Saints had Maurice Rioli Jr and Jackson Paine back in the side after a month’s absence and began to get their teamwork going in the second term.

Rising Star nominee Joseph Salmon booted two second quarter goals and could easily have had a third, Ryan Smith controlled the ruck and Nate Paredes was in everything.

But just when it looked like St Mary’s were set for a comfortable night, Wanderers kicked the first three quarters of the third term.

The Eagles used their leg speed and quick transfer of the football to run the footbal into their forward half where Braedon McLean, Thomas Motlop and Joel Jeffrey converted.

The nine-point deficit should have been a lot less after misses by Shannon Motlop and Cooper.

Riley Miller’s walk-in goal for Saints stopped the Wanderers run and when Maurice Rioli Jr produced backed out of two tackles and snapped a major normal service had resumed.

ST MARY’S 1.4 6.10 9.12 14.17 (101)

WANDERERS 1.2 2.4 5.7 5.8 (38)

GOALS — StM: J Salmon 2 L Larson 2 N Paredes 2 N Yarran R McMurray J Long B Slater R Smith J Paine M Rioli R Miller. Wand: J Jeffrey 2 M Cooper T Motlop B McLean.

BEST — StM: R Smith J Salmon N Paredes Jake Long Jacob Long A Parry. Wand: B McLean D dos Santos M Taylor B O’Connell T Lui.