By David Nagel
Beaconsfield is no longer a ‘mathematical chance’ of playing finals football in 2022 after the Eagles suffered a 36-point defeat at the hands of Montrose on Saturday.
Let’s face it, by the time the term ‘mathematical chance’ is rolled out a season is pretty much done and dusted and that’s the way it played out on the weekend.
The Eagles have now lost five games on the trot, but this is the first of those five matches where the outcome was pretty much decided by half time.
Montrose had 20 scoring shots to five in the opening half, building the platform for a convincing 13.24.102 to 10.6.66 victory.
Beaconsfield can justifiably hang its hat on being very competitive in its first season in Eastern Division 1, with only Mitcham in round eight scoring more than 100 points against the Eagles prior to Saturday’s engagement.
Montrose only just tipped over that scale, but conceding 37 scoring shots was nine more than Beaconsfield had conceded in any other game this year.
The Eagles did show resilience in the second half, kicking seven goals to six to limit what could have been considerable damage to its percentage.
Hayden Brough kicked three goals for the Eagles, a total matched by important key-forward Josh Smith who made a return to the senior side for the first time since round nine.
Smith’s last game was Beaconsfield’s last win…a thrilling away victory over Lilydale.
Smith was one Beaconsfield’s best players on Saturday, alongside fellow tall Pat Gerdan who was playing just his fourth game for the season.
The Eagles are not a tall team, and the return of Smith and Gerdan will no doubt ease the load on ruckman Harrison Coe in the remaining rounds of the season.
Skipper Jake Bowd, half back Tanner Stanton and the determined Trent Stokoe were other key figures for the Eagles, who can still cause some damage in the last four rounds of the season.
The eighth-placed Eagles play the two teams below them in the run home, while games against finals contenders Croydon and Mitcham are not impossible assignments.
The Eagles kick off that run home by hosting fifth-placed Croydon at Holm Park Reserve this Saturday.
RESULTS – ROUND 14
MONTROSE 3.4 7.13 9.17 13.24(102)
BEACONSFIELD 1.2 3.2 5.5 10.6(66)
Montrose Goals: B. Schilling 3, B. Watson 2, S. Rickard, M. Hall, B. White, M. Davis, B. Johnson, R. Hams, D. Curnow, T. Galbraith. Best: B. Dessent, M. Hall, B. Watson, R. Hams, T. Birchall, B. Schilling.
Beaconsfield Goals: H. Brough 3, J. Smith 3, P. Gerdan, M. Cameron, H. Coe, S. Merrick. Best: P. Gerdan, J. Smith, J. Bowd, T. Stanton, H. Brough, T. Stokoe.
OTHER GAMES
Croydon 11.8.74 v Upper Ferntree Gully 3.2.20, East Ringwood 17.11.113 v Mooroolbark 14.11.95, Lilydale 10.6.66 v Bayswater 13.12.90, Wantirna South 10.5.65 v Mitcham 9.5.59.
LADDER
East Ringwood 52, Mooroolbark 52, Mitcham 32, Wantirna South 32, Croydon 32, Montrose 24, Bayswater 24, Beaconsfield 16, Lilydale 16, Upper Ferntree Gully 0.
FIXTURE – ROUND 15
Beaconsfield (8) v Croydon (5), Bayswater (7) v Wantirna South (4), East Ringwood (1) v Lilydale (9), Mooroolbark (2) v Upper Ferntree Gully (10), Mitcham (3) v Montrose (6).
