WILLIAMSTOWN CYMS has released the pressure valve in the Victorian Amateur Football Association division 1 with a breakthrough win for new coach Mathew Montebello.
After consecutive one-kick losses to start the season, CYs finally found a way to win and did it with relative ease, by 33 points over Ormond at a blustery Fearon Reserve on Saturday.
“I think we put a fair bit of pressure on ourselves after the big summer that we had with lots of changes and recruits,” Montebello told the Weekly.
“Now that we’ve got that one, we can focus on our footy and just being consistent from now on, as opposed to the pressure of thinking we need to get our first win.”
It was a special day for CYs to bring up their first win of the campaign.
They held an Anzac ceremony in conjunction with the Williamstown RSL to honour the local area’s fallen soldiers.
“The connection with the RSL and us is huge,” Montebello said.
“To have that beforehand and to win on the day is an added bonus.”
The CYs were able to negotiate a tricky northerly breeze the better of the two sides.
They might have trailed by 20 points at quarter-time, but that was a win considering the five-goal wind advantage the Monders opened up with.
The second term was all CYs’, with eight goals to nil, as they opened up a 23-point half-time lead.
The premiership quarter was the decisive one with CYs working hard against the tide to restrict the Monders to just two goals in the term. They even scored one the other way.
The last term lasted 42 minutes but could have gone for 100 minutes and CYs would still have saluted on the back of their defensive acts in the first and third terms.
“We pride ourselves on our pressure acts and our defensive acts,” Montebello said.
“We did that by introducing a club leaderboard for who leads the tackles and the one-percenters.
“It was interesting after last week’s loss, guys were having a look at where they stood and it hit a few of their egos. But all those boys who were really disappointed, they were the ones outstanding on the weekend to make sure they applied it.”
Ben Gray was a clear cut best-on-ground.
Everywhere the CYs captain was placed, from on the ball to a wing, across half forward or half back, he dominated.
But Gray rolled an ankle late in the game and is considered doubtful for Saturday’s trip to Hampton Rovers.
CYs’ onballers Nic Holdsworth, Callum Richards, Craig Taylor and Jack Gray also impressed, as did half-back Nick Walsh and three-goal forward Steven Barlow.
VAFA
Division 1: Williamstown CYMS 15.13 (103) d Ormond 10.10 (70). Williamstown CYMS – goals: S. Barlow, B. Gray 3, M. Carland, J. Gray 2, Z. Read, C. Taylor,
J. Vanderloo, C. Richards, N. Walsh.
Best: B. Gray, N. Holdsworth,
J. MacKenzie, P. Johnson, N. Walsh.
