St Mary’s managed their first win of the 2020-21 win against the Tiwi Bombers

ST Mary’s fired to their first win of the 2020-21 season with a 15.12 (102) to 9.7 (51) victory over Tiwi Bombers at TIO Stadium

ST MARY’S fired to their first win of the 2020-21 season with a 15.12 (102) to 9.7 (51) victory over Tiwi Bombers at TIO Stadium.

Saints scored the opener through Jackson Paine in his first game back for the side, but a strong defensive quarter from Tiwi limited the Green Machine to just one more score from Beau Tedcastle on his debut.

MORE NT SPORT NEWS

Saints and Bombers looking for first win

Brett Eddy’s haul of six goals inspired Wanderers comeback against St Mary’s

The Bombers, however, took full advantage of their early chances with a first win on the line scoring four in the opening period, including one to Dion Munkara celebrating his 150th senior NTFL game alongside Michael Dunn.

But that ascendancy was not to last as Tom Gilbert, Jack Landt and Harry Williams were among the Saints to score in the second period.

Those scores rewarded the hard work of Lachlan Taylor and Nate Paredes, who provided pace on the ball across the midfield.

Tylah Saunders and Jack Musgrove also applied plenty of pressure in defence to limit opportunities for Tiwi forward Adam Sambono.

Tiwi’s John Tipiloura ensured his side avoided a goalless quarter, but the controlled Saints limited the turnover chances for the Bombers.

Tedcastle and Paine continued to shine on the scoring end through the third term, slowly taking the game out of the Bombers’ hands.

Saints captain Raphael Clarke credited the win to his team finally gelling with the return of previously-suspended coach Anthony Vallejo.

“After the way we finished last year we wanted a strong start but we weren’t gelling in those first two games which shocked us,” Clarke told the Sunday Territorian.

“The boys stood up here. We were hungry and having Chopper (Vallejo) back coaching was great, he brings that aggression that puts the fear in the guys and forces us to step up.

OFFER EXTENDED: Amazing NT News subscription offer: $1 a week for the first 12 weeks

“After that first quarter we realised we weren’t working hard enough and probably expected the game to come our way so the message there was to go and grab the game.

“Now we have Nightcliff again. We took a lot out of that (first round) loss and hopefully we’ve improved since then. We just need to take the pressure on ourselves and step up.”

St Mary’s 2.1 9.4 13.7 15.12 (102)

Bombers 4.2 5.3 6.6 7.9 (51)

Goals

St Mary’s: J Paine 6 B Tedcastle 3 J Landt 2 H Williams T Gilbert N Paredes D Landt

Tiwi Bombers: G Turner 2 J Tipiloura 2 K Dunn D Munkara B Ngalkin

Best

St Mary’s: B Tedcastle N Paredes J Paine L Taylor J Musgrove

Tiwi Bombers: J Tipiloura M Kantilla D Munkara P Heenan H Moloney