Spotswood suffered its first loss of the season after letting a three-quarter-time lead slip against St Albans in Western Region Football League division 1 on Saturday.
St Albans got off to a flyer in the first term, taking a 26-point lead into quarter-time.
PICTURE GALLERY: Spotswood v St Albans
But the Woodsmen hit back in the middle two terms.
In a high-scoring final quarter, the Saints kicked seven goals to four to win 18.10 (118) to 15.17 (107) at Kings Park Reserve.
Woodsmen coach Tom Langlands said he was surprised by his side’s slow start after having a week off.
“There’s always a little bit of concern about coming off a week’s rest,” he said. “They [St Albans] had played last week. I thought we had prepared pretty well, but they were a little more hungry for the ball in the first term.”
Langlands said that after it took the lead, he thought his team was in the box seat going into the final term.
“We got ourselves back into the game and were kicking with a three-goal wind advantage in the final term,” he said.
“Maybe we got a little complacent in the final term due to being in front and them having a number of injuries. But they just had too much firepower and it showed how much they wanted to win.”
The Woodsmen were again left to rue poor kicking in front of goal.
“It’s a recurring event, but that’s not to say we have not been working on it,” he said. “We butchered the ball in front of goal and bad kicking is bad football.”
David Iaccarino was the best for the Woodsmen for a second straight game and was awarded his side’s Gallipoli Medal, as decided by the opposition coach. This week the Woodsmen take on Albion, which lost by 136 points to Deer Park on Anzac Day. Altona defeated Yarraville Seddon by 59 points.
