By Jackson Russell
Kilmore scored its second win in a row, taking care of Panton Hill by 35 points at home on Saturday.
The Blues are now 5-2 and third on the ladder on percentage with the win that closed Panton Hill’s one-game buffer over them.
Kilmore came out ready to play from the first bounce, holding Panton Hill to a single behind and kicking 2.6.18.
The hosts continued to put the pressure on, extending the lead to 20 points with a two goal to one second term.
Scoring opened up in the third term with Kilmore adding four goals to its total and pushing the lead out to 31 points.
One more goal to the Blues in the final term sealed the win at JJ Clancy Reserve.
Kilmore coach Nathan Phillips said the Blues went into the contest knowing it had major ladder implications.
“We knew South Morang had Reservoir so if we dropped that game, we would’ve dropped to fifth so we stressed the importance of the win and trained during the week to adjust our game plan to get over Panton Hill and the boys executed it really well on Saturday,” he said.
“Chris Ryall was really good in the midfield early, especially in the first half when the game was in the balance. Stephen McIntyre and Peter de Sousa did a good job down back, they only scored three goals in total so the whole backline did well but they had good individual performances.”
Phillips said the Queen’s Birthday break will have his charges in good stead for the following week against Old Eltham Collegians and the rest of the season.
“We need the break, we’ve got a lot of sore boys, they’re carrying some niggles so a week’s rest is exactly what we need,” he said.
“We’ve had a tough run lately so we’re looking forward to resting the boys and giving them a chance to recuperate and give them a chance to hit the next few games hard.”
Kilmore 9.8 (62) def Panton Hill 3.9 (27)
KILMORE
Goals: S. Swindells 3, J. Kinnear 2, L. Chapman, M. Webb, B. Cooney, L. Irons.
Best: C. Ryall, P. de Sousa, L. Irons, K. Moran, G. Paxton, A. Milne.
PANTON HILL
Goals: M. Byron 2, J. Pritchard.
Best: N. Parks, N. Hendry, S. Conte, D. Freeman, T. Forster, J. Mill.
