By Tara Murray
Tullamarine turned up the heat in the final quarter of its knock-out semi-final against Westmeadows in Essendon District Football League division 1.
There was just one point in at three quarter-time at Windy Hill and the game had been close all day.
The Demons were able to find another level, kicking the next six goals to take a match-winning lead.
Westmeadows kicked the last goal of the game, but the result was already decided with the Demons winning 15.12 (102)-10.9 (69).
Demons coach David Connell said the biggest thing that showed through late in the game were the mental aspects.
Having struggled for consistency in recent weeks, the Demons put out their best performance in a long time.
“It was good and the boys stuck tough for most of the game,” he said.
“The mental application over the last month wasn’t great and the focus has been more on mindset than anything physical.
“The last three to four weeks we looked too far ahead … it was about putting together four quarters of football and we were able to do that.”
The Demons led for most of the game, but were unable to break it open in the first three quarters.
Connell said their experience shone through late in the game when it was really needed.
“It was pretty tight for three quarters,” he said. “It took us right until the last quarter to break them.
“There were times when they would be good and we had to stick with them. For 25 minutes of the third quarter, they controlled the game but couldn’t score.
“We scored in the last quarter when we had control.”
A key tactic by the Demons was moving Jack Burns forward in the last quarter.
He kicked four last-quarter goals.
Blair Cronin, who was playing deep forward, also kicked four goals.
Connell said it was some of the defensive jobs done by players that really stood out for him.
Tim Matson kept Omar Saad to one goal, while Anthony Liberatore did the job on Robbie Castello.
Nathan Sciberras went to Aaran Evans after quarter-time and shut him out of the game.
Anthony Prestia and Cameron Hare played their best games coming back from long term injuries.
The Demons will face East Keilor in a preliminary final, after the Cougars were beaten by Craigieburn in the other semi-final.
The Eagles await the winner in the grand final.
Connell said they were looking forward to the East Keilor challenge.
“We played them only three weeks ago,” he said. “We were up by six goals and then threw it away. The boys were disappointed and want to right some wrongs from that day.”
