Oakleigh Amateurs provided the upset of the round on Saturday with a fighting win over ladder leaders Mazenod at Scammell Reserve. Fighting to stave off relegation, the Krushers took the game right up to the raging favourites in the first term going to the change 8 points adrift but a 5 goal second term against the breeze gave the Oaks a 7 point advantage at the long break.

Their confidence boosted by a strong first half, the Krushers went on with the job in the third term kicking away the ‘Nodders to take a healthy 35 point lead into the last change and the trick now was to keep the flag favourites at bay. Oakleigh did just that in the final quarter with the Krusher defence rising to the occasion, repelling attack after attack from an increasingly desperate Mazenod as the Oaks tenaciously held on to their advantage to run out 5 goal victors in a highly entertaining game. Trevor Bromley was in vintage touch with 5 goals for Oakleigh with Aaron Cloke adding 3 before injury forced him from the field and Zac Mousoulis chipping in with 2. Liam Gillard, Josh Paola and, debutante, Corey Moore were just some of Oakleighs best players.

The reserves began brightly in the earlier game with a 5 goal to 1 opening term, however they lost momentum in the second as Mazenod kept them goalless and took the ascendency into the long break with a 5 point lead. The Krushers worked hard in the second half but slipped to a 17 point deficit at the last change. The Oaks threw everything into the last quarter closing the gap to 5 points but couldn’t quite finish it off and eventually went down by 17 points. Andrew Mase, Ben Still and Jake Benoiton each kicked 2 goals for Oakleigh with Jason Reynolds, Leroy Moeller and Luke Pappon were in the Oaks best.

The U/19s opened proceedings for the days football playing host to Aquinas.Sadly for the young Krushers, numbers were again down and, after a good first term taking a 9 point lead into the first break, found the going increasingly difficult to keep up with the visitors who took advantage of Oakleighs lack of numbers and went to the main change with a 10 point break after keeping the Oaks goalless in the second term. The Krushers never really recovered from that and, although they were never far behind, they couldn’t bridge the gap and finally succumbed by 19 points.

Final Scores:

Seniors: Oakleigh 14-13-97 def Mazenod 9-13-67

Goals: T.Bromley 5, A.Cloke 3, Z.Mousoulis 2, T.Scott, T.Doherty, J.Paola, J.Hunt 1.
Best: L.Gillard, T.Bromley, Z.Mousoulis, J.Paola, R.Holden, C.Moore.

Reserves: Oakleigh 10-3-63 lt Mazenod 12-8-86.
Goals: A.Mase, B.Still, J.Benoiton 2, J.Van Den Ven, N.Miller, L.Moeller, A.Matthieson 1.
Best: A.Mase, J.Reynolds, L.Moeller, L.Pappon, C.Pearson, J.Abela.

U/19s: Oakleigh 10-7-67 lt Aquinas 12-14-86.
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