TYNAN Whight landed a one-two combo to floor defending premiers Greensborough in a Hockey Victoria men’s Premier League shock.
Whight, the Bulldogs on-field leader, scored twice in the last 15 minutes to be his club’s hero of the day.
His two goals saw the Bulldogs turn a one-goal deficit into an upset 3-2 win at the Greensborough Hockey Centre.
“We’re rapt,” Bulldogs coach Travis Brooks told the Weekly.
“We got our third goal with about two minutes to go.
“The boys are stoked and deserved it for sticking at it for the full 70 minutes.”
The Bulldogs have been plagued with inconsistent performances this season but showed better stickability against Greensborough.
They hung in when the home side began to get up a head of steam and refused to roll over as they might have done last year.
“We’ve had consistency issues,” Brooks said.
“We’ve been up and about at times and we’ve been terrible at times. For most of this game we were consistent.”
Scores were locked at 1-1 at the break, Liam Braithwaite scoring for the Bulldogs.
When Greensborough regained the lead, the Doggies were expected to fall away, but that wasn’t the case.
It strengthened the resolve of the likes of Justin Ellis and Oscar Allan to make penetrating runs in and behind the defence.
The Bulldogs were able to gain an element of control over the contest and defended stoutly to limit the pressure on the defence.
When Whight scored the first of his goals 15 minutes from time, it was game on.
Whight then did the unthinkable, putting the Bulldogs in front with two minutes to go and on the cusp of a famous win.
“The strikers worked back and the defenders stayed strong,” Brooks said of the dying stages. “Everyone just did their role to keep them out.”
Not many gave the Bulldogs a chance, but Brooks was “optimistic”.
He says the result will do a power of good for the self-confidence of his players, an area he believes has been lacking.
“I wasn’t surprised by it. I believed they could do it,” he said. “It will be good for the group, instill confidence in them.”
Hockey Victoria
Men: Greensborough 2 Footscray 3, Altona 2 Mentone 1
Women: Greensborough 6 Footscray 1, Altona 0 Mentone 3
