Uni-Mowbray wins over Evandale by 75 points to seal NTFA division 2 preliminary final berth

The timing to bypass a shoddy Evandale could not have been any better amid the nature of a cutthroat final.

“Evandale has sort of had the monkey on our backs for the last six years – we haven’t beaten them for that long,” coach Nathan Lowe said.

“They also beat us twice throughout the year, though not by big margins, but we just needed to tweak a few things to go up forward.

“The weather (on Sunday) suited us and the way we played really benefited to us.”

The 75-point margin was also a turnaround in fortunes for both semi-finalists.

Uni-Mowbray scored just five goals last Saturday during its 40-point defeat to Lilydale in the qualifying final, but managed to kick 16 among 34 scoring shots on a dry deck at Invermay Park.

Evandale’s 19 goals that led to a mighty 80-point win over St Pats was a faded memory when turning out only four goals – two of which until three-quarter time.

Evandale trailed by eight points heading towards time-on in the first quarter before Uni-Mowbray piled on 10 of the next 11 goals to ice the game.

The final 16.18 (114) to 4.15 (39) score was a reflection of a horror day for Evandale.

“For some reason when we play bad footy all over, we kick badly as well,” coach Anthony Axton said.

“But I don’t think we were ever really in the game to be honest after quarter-time.

“They set the tone and we weren’t good enough to go with them.” 

Large chunks of the first three terms, Uni-Mowbray played the game inside its attacking half to starve their Eagles counterparts of goalscoring opportunities.

The winners ran harder and were also first to the ball in most contests, their marks inside 50 a constant concern.

Forward Glenn Dawson turned the dominant number of entries into four goals.

Axton addressed the players during the final huddle, lamenting their style of “bruise-free football” and asking them to lift for the final 30 minutes of their season.

“I guess bruise-free is a bit harsh on the lads, but they just wanted to put their head over it more than we did, their want was more than our want and the scoreboard indicated that,” he said.

Uni-Mowbray, who finished second to Old Scotch, battle the Thistles a week earlier than the favoured grand final encounter.

Lowe said inflicting one of Old Scotch’s two losses – the other was Saturday to Lilydale – will go a long way.

“I think if we run the ball the way we did, we’ll be hard to stop if we turn up. There is heaps of room for more improvement,” he said.