THE message for Kilmore is rather simple in the Northern Football Netball League division three men’s competition—win, and you’re in.
The Blues have given themselves a golden opportunity to play finals at the very last gasp following one of their most complete performances in years against Heidelberg West.
The equation was simple. Kilmore needed a big win and relied on Fitzroy Stars also beating Epping by a comfortable margin to stay in the hunt.
At the opening change, Kilmore could have been in an even better position than a 27-point lead but was left to rue an opening stanza which saw it kick just three goals from 13 scoring shots.
The importance of Kilmore’s goalkicking was then added in the second term, as Heidelberg West played its best football for the afternoon, adding two goals to creep into the game, trailing by 22 points at one stage.
However, this would be as close as the Hawks would get throughout the afternoon.
Kilmore slowly but surely started adding to the lead, kicking the final two goals of the half to extend the lead to 32 points, 47-15.
With the Stars leading by 31 points on the other side of town, the Blues needed to get a move on if they were to make up the 14 percentage points on Epping from the start of the day.
The third term was just the tonic.
Four goals in an eight-minute span allowed Kilmore to extend its lead to 10 goals as the halfway point of the term approached, and then another four-goal burst in red time meant the Blues increased the margin to 81 points, 97-16.
The Blues were relentless in the final term, not allowing the Hawks a single sniff at adding to their total, while the Blues did what they pleased as they added six more goals, finishing with a 20.16 (136) to 2.4 (16) victory.
Twelve goalkickers joined in the fun for the Blues, led by Bailey and Ethan Derrick with three goals apiece. Liam Monaghan, Chris Barton, Campbell White, Kye Maher, Ben Barton and Mitchell Portoglou were all named in the best.
A win of any margin for Kilmore against Kinglake on Saturday afternoon will allow the Blues to make the finals at Epping’s expense, with the Blues five percentage points clear of Epping, who have a bye.
Meantime, in the NFNL’s Friday night netball competition, the Blues had a mixed night, winning three of their nine games on the night. Broadford, however, had a significant night, winning all three of their games, including a win in division four against Laurimar.
