WILLIAMSTOWN CYMS is breathing a sigh of relief after moving out of the Victorian Amateur Football Association division 1 relegation zone for the first time since round nine.
CYs will go into the final round controlling their own destiny after jumping out of the bottom two with a 63-point hammering of third-last Glen Eira at Fearon Reserve on Saturday.
They will retain their place in the division if either they beat Ormond on the road at EE Gunn Reserve on Saturday, or Glen Eira loses to ladder-leader North Old Boys/St Patrick’s in its last round.
“We’re confident we can go out and beat Ormond,” CYs coach Ian Rickman said. “There is a lot of confidence in the group now.”
For CYs, the last home game of the season was a do or die effort. If they had lost, their papers would have been stamped with relegation in big red
letters.
Rickman called on a special effort from his players and he found 22 combatants willing to do whatever it took to secure a win.
“The boys came to play from the start,” he said. “It was a fantastic all round effort. I don’t think Glen Eira had a winning player on the day. All the CYs boys got the better of their man.”
CYs laid the foundations for victory running into the wind in the first term.
Not only did they keep the visitors to just one goal, they fashioned a number of chances of their own to maintain relative parity at the change.
“Early on, it was a real arm wrestle,” Rickman said. “It was high pressure, a lot of stoppages, a heavy ball and a lot of tackles.
“First in for the ball was our priority for the game and we did that.”
Daniel Calman-Orr, Chris Cini, Matthew Carland and Jason Bencich set the tone in the midfield, showing their desire for the contest with ferocious attacks on the football.
More often than not, CYs obtained first use because of their willingness to dig in. CYs finally made their dominance count on the scoreboard with a four-goals-to-nil second term.
They weathered the storm in the third, before finishing the task with another five-goal effort in the last.
Josh Vanderloo was again the focal point with four goals, while Ben Gray was ever present with three.
Phil Johnson capped a best-on-ground performance at half-back with a goal when his opponent decided to venture into CYs forward 50.
“He shut down his opponent,” Rick-
man said.
“He was real desperate in defence and handled the ball well in the conditions.”
A mere 120 minutes of football now stands between CYs and survival.
Rickman says it has been an almighty effort from his players to get to a position of controlling their own fate. “We’ve been under pressure all season,” he said.
“We’ve played 52 senior players, which is unheard of at any level, and been inundated with injuries.
“We’ve been really good with out backs against the wall over the past six weeks.”
-Lance Jenkinson
VAFA
Division 1: Williamstown CYMS 14.14 (98) d Glen Eira 4.11 (35).
