Tara Murray
There were a few nervous moments on the sidelines, but North Footscray did enough to come away with a round one win against Newport in the Western Region Football League division 2.
Having led for most of the game the Devils had everything thrown at them in the final quarter as Newport came with the wind.
They were able to hold on to win 17.10 (112)-15.9 (99).
Devils coach David Battistella said he thought the last quarter was never going to end.
“The final quarter went 35 minutes, it’s not good for the heart,” he said.
“It felt like it was going for ever and I kept looking at the scoreboard and I was just hoping the siren would go.”
Battistella said overall it was a pretty physical game which had all the attributes of a good game of local football.
He said the wind had a pretty big impact on the game, in which neither team felt like they had the win.
“We started well,” he said.
“We got six or seven goals up in the third quarter, but we could not put them away.
“They got on a run and got back within 10 points. We did enough to settle.
“I was pretty drained by the end as I was never confident that we had the game won. We couldn’t ask for a better start.”
Charles Bettiol kicked four goals in his first match for the club. Battistella said he would have had eight to 10 shots.
Assistant coach David Allitt in the midfield, ruck James Carey and one of the new players, Jack Cairns were among the standouts.
Battistella said new recruits had made their presence felt straight away. He said they had looked to add some more pieces to the puzzle in the off season.
“We did a bit of recruiting last year, it was basically a whole new team,” he said. “We kept what we had, there’s only two players who are not playing.
“We brought in four or five into our best side and more depth means more pressure for spots.
“We needed an extra forward and we were lucky enough to get our hands on two along with a couple of extra mids. We’re always going to be in a better spot than at any point of last season.”
The Devils this week face Glen Orden. Battistella said with most sides in the division recruiting well it should be a really good season.
In other round one matches, Point Cook Centrals defeated Glen Orden, 14.11 (95)-9.9 (63) after a 46-0 first quarter.
Albion smashed West Footscray 24.22 (166)-8.1 (49), while Parkside came from behind to beat Wyndhamvale 13.14 (92)-10.6 (66).
Division 3 kicks off this weekend.
