A six-goal last quarter by Port Melbourne sunk the Seagulls on Sunday as the Borough held on to bragging rights in the legendary VFL rivalry.
For three quarters, the top-of-the-table clash didn’t disappoint. With the ground packed with vocal supporters in both red and blue and blue and yellow, both teams battled hard to gain the ascendancy.
The Seagulls, still missing captain Ben Jolley, midfielder Jamie McNamara and defender Stephen Witkowski, kicked four goals in the first quarter after Port kicked the opening two.
Port Melbourne welcomed back two of its best from injury, hard nut Toby Pinwill and two-time Liston Trophy winner Shane Valenti.
The second term saw the Borough grab the lead, kicking the first four goals of the quarter before Williamstown cut the lead with a couple of late goals.
After the break, it was Port that again had all the momentum early, with the Seagulls making several crucial turnovers in the middle of the ground.
Port led by 23 before late goals to Christian Howard and Cameron Wood cut the margin back to 10 points.
Williamstown coach Peter German urged his players to take the game on in the last quarter,+ but they were no match for the hardened bodies of the Borough.
For Port, Dean Galea finished with six goals, despite being double and triple-teamed in contested marking contests, and Toby Pinwill was inspirational.
Veteran skipper John Baird doesn’t seem to play a bad game of football.
Anthony Anastasio kicked Williamstown’s only major of the quarter, running into an open goal after finding space inside 50 – a rarity against the Port Melbourne defenders.
German said the Seagulls “had to try something a bit different” in the last quarter.
“I felt we were probably just hanging on by the skin of our teeth all game,” he said. “I urged the players to take the game on a bit, but we kept turning the ball over and it really made it tough.
“They had 16 more inside-50s in the last quarter, so they really did put us under a lot of pressure.”
German said the 175-point win over Bendigo the previous week was not ideal preparation.
“But it still doesn’t matter,” he said. “The players were given plenty of warning about what type of game it was going to be and we couldn’t combat it for the whole game.”
