‘Bushies look to find their flair

BEECHWORTH’S senior footballers will be looking to find their firepower up forward after falling short by two points in Barnawartha last week. In bizarre scenes, Beechworth were unable to hold onto a slim three-quarter-time lead despite no goals being kicked in the final quarter. The Tigers’ five behinds was enough to overcome the Bushrangers and take a gritty 4.13 (37) to 5.5 (35) win. Coach Jack Neil said it was a game played between the arcs as both sides struggled to capitalise up forward. “We didn’t have a great day, in the last quarter we didn’t take the limited opportunities we had but generally we didn’t have the level of intensity required for the whole day,” he said. “Both teams were defending well across the ground and it was a game where it was quite clear what they were trying to do and we were onto it, but we just couldn’t score from those turnovers and they were doing the same to us. “It was ugly but our guys did a great job to stick at it and credit to Barnawartha who were able to open up a few extra opportunities.” The Bushrangers have struggled for continuity up forward so far this season with spearheads Lachie Armstrong and Brad Fendyk missing matches throughout the start of the season. Beechworth were also without club stalwart Brenton Surrey last week as he serves a four-week suspension following two incidents cited in the Bushrangers’ win against Yackandandah. So far the Bushrangers have been able to rely on boasting the league’s second best defence for points against to have them sitting third on the TDFL table, but Neil said putting a bigger score on the board would be a focus for his team going into another tough bout against Rutherglen. “We’ve been making do with different options so far but we just have to continue to try an create the opportunities the best we can and hope to take them when they come,” he said. “We’ll look to get it right more often at training and hope that translates.” The Cats have been one of many big improvers in the league so far this season, coming off an impressive win over Chiltern last week. Neil said being clean with the ball in hand and smart with their disposal will be key in dissecting the red-hot Rutherglen at Barkly Park. “They’ll have a couple of zoning off defenders so we just need to be smart with our ball use,” he said. “One of the bigger things we’ve noted the past couple of weeks is that we’re a bit fumbley with the ball so we want to make sure we’re cleaner around the contest.” Across the fence, Beechworth’s A grade brought up their second win in three weeks overcoming the Tigers 59-46 at Barnarwartha. Rachael Cavallin slotted 49 goals at a high clip as Beechworth used a 17-8 second quarter to proel themselves back on the winners list.

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