By Ewen McRae
A final quarter goal rush was not enough to get Albion the win over Hoppers Crossing on Saturday, after a terrible opening term left it too much work to do.
Hoppers Crossing took full advantage of a strong first quarter breeze in its Western Region Football League division 1 clash, to blow the home side away and open up what proved to be a match winning lead at JR Parsons Reserve.
The Warriors booted 7.2 (44) to Albion’s solitary major in the first term, before withstanding a final quarter surge from the hosts to take the win, 14.10 (94) – 11.7 (73).
Albion coach Chris O’Keefe said it was disappointing to concede so many goals early, which meant they were chasing the game from the start.
“It wasn’t the start we were looking for,” he said. “We know that Hoppers are a good team, and we were hoping we could minimise their advantage with the breeze which would help us later in the game, so to be honest that first quarter really hurt us.
“It’s always hard to get back into it if you concede seven goals in the first quarter, so we let ourselves down there.”
Albion started well to kick the opening goal, and was able to lock the ball in its forward 50 in the first five minutes, but once the visitors hit the scoreboard it was one way traffic.
The Warriors kicked seven unanswered goals to close out the quarter, leading to a half-time bake from O’Keefe as the home side sought to change the momentum of the game.
The Cats responded with five goals in the second term to close within 20 points at the long break, but they struggled again when they had to kick against the wind in the third.
Hoppers Crossing stormed ahead with 4.3 to 0.1 for the quarter to effectively ice the game, and although Albion was able to boot five final quarter goals to reduce the margin it was a disappointing day for the Cats.
O’Keefe was a focal point up forward with four goals, while Johnathan O’Brien and captain Josh Bench were solid contributors around the ground.
While he was pleased to close the gap late in the game, O’Keefe said he needed to see a more consistent effort from his side if it was to push up the ladder in the second half of the season.
“Our last month we’ve actually played some really good footy, and we’ve been extremely competitive for three quarters in every game,” O’Keefe said.
“Whether it is a mental lapse, or some discipline issues, or just allowing teams to get on top of us for a quarter, that’s cost us every week for the last four weeks.
“The upside is we’re playing good footy for the rest of the game, so if we can get some more consistency and get rid of those lapses I’ve got no doubt we can win some games against the best teams in the comp.”
