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Caulfield  19 - 19 - 133     Defeated    Oakleigh  1 - 3 - 9

A beautiful Autumn day greeted the Reserves as we welcomed an in form Oakleigh to Pressure Park for our Round 4 clash.  We always love being the meat in the triple header sandwich and again we were in the fortunate position of having some tough selection decisions as we tried to consolidate our strong start to the season.

 

Adding to the excitement for the day was the chance to celebrate Sam Wood's 200th game for the Club.  Whilst he spent much of his career at a higher level, Woody is an important player for us as he embodies everything we aspire to as a team, being hard work, courage and a team first attitude. 

 

Skipper Jimmy Gray won the all important toss and wisely chose to kick with the aid of a significant breeze.  We took full advantage as Woody got himself amongst the early action contributing to a 6 goal to nil first quarter.

 

Lloyd Everett had a busy first half and was combining well with Dan Meddings to keep the pressure on Oakleigh throughout the second quarter as we piled on a further 5 goals into the wind.  Will Conly was growing in confidence throughout the quarter whilst Al Burge was providing plenty of grunt in the midfield.  A strong defensive team effort was compromised when a few of our players decided they wanted to get a little more closely acquainted to their opposition, allowing Oakleigh to kick their one and only goal for the game on the stroke of half time.

 

The message at half time was to stay focused on the things we wanted to do as a team and put Oakleigh away with the advantage of the wind in the third quarter.  Adrian Bednarek was everywhere in the third quarter and carrying out the coaches instructions perfectly, whilst Harold Mills finished off some good work with a classy finish.  Another 6 goal to nil quarter set up a big 3/4 time lead after Dan Meddings slotted a long bomb late in the term.

 

An inaccurate last quarter failed to take the gloss of an impressive four quarter effort from the Fields with Will Osborn starring in a best on ground performance, kicking 5 goals from the midfield.  A 124 point win the result of a great team performance and the lads were thrilled to get the win for Woody.

 

Big test next week against a Kew side who pushed ladder leaders Ormond to within a goal last week.