Lions finish strongly to keep the Tigers at bay

In a thriller at a rain-soaked Hands Oval on Saturday night, Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault snatched a five-point victory over a gallant South Bunbury 9.3 (57) to 8.4 (52).

Heavy rain during the women’s match saw the game played in firm but slippery conditions and South Bunbury enjoyed the majority of the play in the first term. It took desperate defence from the Lions to hold the Tigers out.

The match tightened further in the second term. Leigh Kohlmann was always a danger in the Tigers forward line, giving Bailey Taylor problems.

On the other hand Ben Ablett was doing a brilliant defensive role on Guy Piggott.

South came out with real intent in the third term. Kohlmann continued his fine form, kicking two more goals and Liam McKenna gave them real drive out of the midfield.

The Tigers struck early in the last term, with McKenna setting up Kohlmann for his fourth.

The Lions kicked four straight goals, with the experience of the likes of David Newman, Jack Quinn and Brayden Prentice coming to the fore.

It was the second straight tight victory for the Lions, while the Tigers did improve vastly on their round 1 effort, and probably deserved to win this one, only to just miss out.

Lions coach Derek Hall was relieved after the match.

“South were probably on top for the majority of the match,” he said.

“We looked like being overwhelmed but managed to stay close enough on the scoreboard.

“The number of inside 50s we had in the last term eventually wore their defence down”

Tigers coach David Obal felt like the game had slipped out of their grasp.

“We were in control for most of the match and won almost all of the stats, except on the scoreboard,” he said.

“We were up and about and spent a lot of time inside our forward 50, but just didn’t get value for effort.”