Memories of the last-round heartbreak from the past two Premier Cricket seasons came flooding back for Footscray Edgewater coach Steve Chapman.
There was a more palatable ending this time for Chapman and the Bulldogs, avoiding the potential of six months of stewing over what might have been by clinching a spot in the finals.
The Dogs left nothing to chance, defeating Geelong by an innings and 13 runs in a dominant display at Merv Hughes Oval on Saturday.
It was still an uneasy day for Chapman, who was on the edge of his seat until the 20th and final Cats wicket was taken.
“I said to the lads at the start of the day, we can’t take it for granted that eight wickets are going to fall in our lap and we’re going to play finals,” Chapman said.
“As good as you were last week, while we got the six points, it doesn’t assure us of anything, so we’ve got to keep going and we’ve got to have another good full day in the field. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen at one stage. We had a few nervous moments but managed to get over the line.”
Footscray Edgewater was a dominant force on day one. The Bulldogs rolled Geelong for just 57 and powered to 4-256 before declaring.
While the Bulldogs were in eighth spot entering the round, a first innings victory might not have been enough if there had been an outright result at one of the other venues.
So the Bulldogs went into the day with an outright on their mind to snuff out the challengers from outside the eight.
They had a headstart on day two, having taken early Geelong wickets late on day one. But the remaining eight wickets were problematic for Footscray Edgewater.
“We’d stagnated when we had them four down,” Chapman said. “Up to drinks in the middle session, we still hadn’t taken a fifth wicket so it was nervy there for a while.”
Mitch Reid (60) and Brenton McDonald (66) combined for a 112-run partnership to give Geelong some hope of avoiding the outright. They took the Cats’ score from 4-51 to 5-163.
Once Footscray Edgewater broke up the pairing, it was all downhill for the Cats.
Bulldogs leg-spinner Jeremy Hart, a former Cat, dismissed both of the set batsmen and broke the game open to finish with 4-36 off 18 overs.
“We weren’t in a hole, but we were really toiling,” Chapman said. “[Hart] bowled Mitch Reid, knocked McDonald over as well, even if it was a little bit contentious, and the rest of the lads couldn’t handle him. He tends to get his wickets in a hurry, he was exceptional.”
Another former Geelong player, left-arm orthodox spinner Hayden Butterworth, was outstanding with 2-18 off 5.1, while opening bowlers Hamish Winter-Irving (2-30) and Lucas Dredge (2-71) helped sink the ship.
Winter-Irving finished with seven wickets for the match.
It will be cut-throat for Footscray Edgewater when it faces Camberwell Magpies in week one of the Premier Cricket finals this weekend. The pressure is all on the Magpies, who finished on top of the ladder after the regular season.
