Mens PE v Camberwell (R2)
ANZAC Day saw two fierce rivals fight out a very tight match for the Nigel Huggett Shield.Preparations for the day involved the words from ‘Lest we Forget’ and a solemn remembrance of the days’ meaning in Australian history with the ‘Last Post’ playing and a minutes silence in the club rooms.
With first choice keeper, Julian Thornton, being called up to make his debut for Pennant C, his pads were to be ably filled by young keeping superstar Mitch Cairns. Unfortunately, the call came through early in the morning that Mitch was desperately ill and was held in an engagement with the porcelain. Andrew Slack came to the rescue, another quality KEW keeper, to fill the twice void pads of the fours.
Both teams took to the field with captain for the day, Kim Schwarz winning the toss and electing to charge towards the Freeway end of Fortress Elgar. Both teams observed a minutes’ silence before the first whistle blew.
The first half was a tight affair with neither side giving away much ground until late in the half. Macca forced a penalty corner which was trapped by Steve Roberts and converted with sublime ease by Ben Hyatt into the backboard. The passing, leading and work off the ball was paying dividends and the fours lead at the break.
The second half saw some outstanding work by the backs, Scott Roberts and Brad Quinn, repelling the orange attack time and time again. The halves took control of the midfield, and the forwards were running rampant. A critical play on the left opened up the game when Gidon Cain, Kim Schwarz and Seb Fuentes put Lalor McMahon through on goal, losing his marker (former Kewtonian – David Kahanoff), to slot a rising shot into the bottom right of the net.
More excellent work through the backs to the midfield and forwards on the right resulted in a third goal for the blue and white when Ben Hyatt launched a rocket into the top left of the net at the top of the D. Kim finished another sublime play to make it 4-0 and really stamp some authority on the game.
Camberwell did make a fight of it capitalising on some poor clearances scoring two late goals. However, KEW stemmed the tide and made sure Fortress Elgar remained impenetrable for 2010.
Score: KEW (4) def Camberwell (2)
Goals: Ben Hyatt (2), Lalor McMahon (1), Kim Schwarz (1)
