Spotswood had to wait a week longer than the rest of the Western Region Football League division 1 to play its first game of the season, taking out its frustrations on St Albans with a hard-fought eight-point win at Kings Park Reserve on Saturday.
The Woodsmen were champing at the bit after drawing the bye in round one and came out with all guns blazing to open up a 25-point quarter-time lead over the Saints.
The boys in green-and-gold managed to build on their lead to head to three-quarter time with a commanding 31-point lead.
It was then that the Woodsmen’s lack of match fitness perhaps caught up with them.
They held on grimly to four premiership points as the Saints charged home with 11 scoring shots to three in the last term.
In a division 2 tussle, North Footscray lost to Caroline Springs by seven points at Hansen Reserve.
Yarraville-Seddon eventually found a way past Glenorden by 19 points at the Yarraville Oval.
West Footscray showed some encouraging signs but was still comfortably beaten by 54 points on its trip to Manor Lakes.
In division 3, Newport Power celebrated its first home win, thumping Braybrook by 104 points.
Parkside was upset at home by Sunshine Heights, despite six goals to star Brent Kelly in the nine-point loss, while the new-look North Sunshine beat Laverton by 41 points.
