After a famous second victory for the year over St. Kevin’s the previous week, the OMs were in good form, and were theoretically well-placed to defeat bottom-of-the-ladder Beaumaris, and strengthen their chances of remaining in B Grade. Whilst Beaumaris convincingly beat the OMs in the first half of the season, they had since lost their way. It was a game the OMs had to win.

 

From the beginning of the match, Beaumaris showed it was the more desperate of the two sides. It scored the first goal. Hawkins then belied his size to crumb the loose ball, feed it to last week’s hero, Ed Mitchell, and Mitchell did not disappoint, with his first goal of the quarter. Cudlipp then found Mitchell, for his second. The OMs had an almost complete dominance of the play despite Beaumaris’ efforts, but was unable to capitalise on it. There was a long battle in the forward line, which resulted in a number of miserable points, but the impasse was broken when Righetti ran into goals and returned the OMs to the lead, 23 to 20. Wilmoth and Righetti were in the thick of the midfield action throughout this quarter, and looked set to have a big and productive day. It was with an extraordinary sense of déjà vu that Mitchell found himself with the footy, after the siren, shooting for goal, from the same pocket. With the same inability to miss that he showed last week, he slotted his third goal for the quarter.

 

Some exciting footy was played in the second quarter, although it was initially Beaumaris’ supporters getting excited as they kicked the first two goals. Hawkins then found Cudlipp, who missed a shot at goal, but Cudlipp redeemed himself minutes later with a nice goal on the run. Righetti then launched a one man war reminiscent of his destructive effort against Ajax in the famous relegation game victory at the end of 2007. All were in awe as he took on Beaumaris players in twos and threes, covering a lot of ground before finding Peters, directly in front of goal. Peters, who came up from the Reserves for his first Senior game this year, goaled from the 50m line. Peters was fired up, which is when he is at his creative best. He was keen to repay the favour, and soon found Righetti, who ran into goal. James Mitchell then cut off a defensive kick, passed to man-of-the-moment Righetti, and Riggers scored his second goal in two minutes. He was on fire, and great to watch, as was the scoreboard, which was now taking care of itself, showing the biggest lead of the game. It was, however, all downhill from there. Perhaps thinking the job was done, the OMs eased off the pressure, allowing Beaumaris to get easy goals and to be within five points at half time. Although the OMs remained in front, there could be no feeling of satisfaction at the needlessly narrow margin against a desperate opponent.

 

Beaumaris maintained its history of kicking the first goal for the quarter, but, despite attacking hard for a long period, was only able to score points against a desperate OMs’ defence. Fitzgerald was notable for his solid work in defence in the continuing absence of Andrew Prowse. Wilmoth decided it was time to show off some of his own individual brilliance as he tapped the loose ball to his own advantage, took clean possession, and ran into goal. An icy wind began blowing strongly, freezing the game into a long and dour battle before Cudlipp, set up by excellent work from Riggers and Bachet, pounced on a loose ball and snapped beautifully around the body for his second goal. This brief glimmer of hope was soon deflated with Beaumaris yet again scoring a run of easy goals to finish the quarter off in front by nine points. It was an incredibly frustrating quarter in which the OMs were noticeably flat.

 

Going into the last quarter with a history of being a last quarter specialist (a title once held by the now-retired comedian and sometime footballer Ed Selby), the OMs were confident they could overcome the small margin. However, it was not easy to score goals in this game, and Beaumaris was not about to give up its winning position without a fight. Although the OMs had most of the play, and, in fact, overused the ball, they did not make the most of their opportunities, kicking a frustrating six points. Beaumaris then kicked the first of its two goals before the sole highlight for the OMs in their final quarter. Ned Morrison, who worked tirelessly through the middle all day, found Hawkins on the boundary line. Opting for the trusty banana kick, Hawkins scored the OMs’ only goal for the quarter, to give some brief hope the margin could be reeled in before the final siren. However, the OMs continued to be quite flat, and showed no signs of being able to kick the winning goals in the limited time remaining. Beaumaris celebrated a desperate victory as the OMs rued the loss of a game they had to win.

 

In addition to the abovementioned players and Fitzgerald, Tim Davis and Lachie Boyd also played valuable running roles. The OMs’ strength remains in its midfield, with a continuing battle to find enough goal scorers, and occasional lapses in intensity in defence allowing through easy but critical goals. A win in this game would have eased the pressure on the OMs, but the pressure has now intensified, as they face a number of finals-bound teams in an endeavour to remain in B Grade.

 

This week sees the OMs take on fourth-placed Old Haileybury at McKinnon Reserve. They need your support, and they will play their best.