By Marcus Uhe
A spectacular second-half fade-out at home has seen Berwick blow a golden opportunity to register their second win of the Eastern Football League season.
Taking a 21-point lead into the final term, the Wickers conceded five goals, all due to free kicks, to a lowly Doncaster side, to fall two points short at the final siren, 7.3 45 to 7.5 47.
The home side made the defensive goal-face at Edwin Flack impenetrable in the first half, as the Sharks entered the long break yet to register their first major.
Berwick had kicked six of their own, with Jonty Andrew, Jackson Drake, Jasper Sully, Josh Burgess, Max McGreal and Blake Bowden all contributing with one goal each in a positive spread of goal-kickers.
But that’s almost where the scoring dried-up for the home side, who went scoreless in the all-important third term.
Doncaster, on the back of a 136-point loss the previous week to Doncaster East, were afforded a slim opportunity that they would go on to take with both hands.
Their first two goals came on the back of manic forward pressure, as both Lachlan Vaughen and Zac Long were caught in possession in their defensive 50 and the umpires chose to reward the tacklers.
Jonty Andrew then worked his magic once again, ducking out of a tackle and snapping truly on his right foot to send the crowd into a frenzy, restoring the lead to 16 points at the seven minute mark.
A controversial call was made against ruck Jesse Cirulis for a block at a ball-up in the Doncaster forward 50, allowing his opponent to convert and keep the pressure on the home side with half the quarter still to play.
When Joshua Burgess was rundown in front of his defensive goal-square, it was panic stations for Clint Evans’ side, as the margin fell to three points.
With three minutes left, Caleb Van Oostveen was penalised for tackling Kyle Viccars without the ball, who kicked his fourth of the contest to snatch the lead.
The final siren sounded just as Kyle O’Sullivan broke free from a boundary throw-in and set sail for the hot spot in the Berwick forward half, having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
They’ll look to make amends and climb from ninth spot with a win over Blackburn in round four.
