By Will Lawrence
In the fight to avoid relegation from Division Three in 2021 every win matters and the Whitehorse Pioneers took a big step towards securing their safety on the weekend with a shock come from behind win over Scoresby on their home patch.
Playing an organised Scoresby side brought out the best in Whitehorse and saw them take the four points by a three goal margin.
The win is just Whitehorse’s third of the season and it saw the side come back fresh and revitalised from two weeks off due to Covid-19 lockdowns, helping multiple players back from injury earlier than expected.
Whitehorse Head Coach Duncan Jones said the win will be fantastic for the confidence of the side, particularly after a tough result against a quality Waverley Blues side in their last game.
“The break probably saved us a little bit in that it gave everyone a bit of a mental break and we got some players back into the side,
“So to get a win just instils confidence for the rest of the year,” said Jones.
Getting over a 105-point loss to Waverley will never be easy but the break from football undoubtedly helped in being able mentally comeback, ready to fight again Jones said.
“We’ve had 13 on-field injuries in the three weeks prior to lockdown,
“We had to play with 17 against Warrandyte in the last quarter because we had concussions, knocks and soft tissue injuries,” said Jones.
“To have the kind of starting midfielders back like Dom Violi, Mav Gleed and Daniel Mendes, it really gave the guys a sense of confidence that we had shot of knocking Scoresby off.”
The 18-point win takes Whitehorse two wins clear from bottom of the ladder Fairpark who is currently in the relegation spot, a huge positive from the win said Jones.
“It’s huge for the club, we were behind the eight ball from the start of the year, but some of the footy we have produced in patches has been really good and on Saturday it finally clicked”.
In the game itself, Scoresby took a commanding lead at quarter-time 41-6.
From there Whitehorse grew into the game as they narrowed to margin to 28 points at half-time.
It was a mammoth third quarter from Whitehorse which took them to victory, kicking 8.2.50, giving them ten point lead coming in the final quarter.
“It was certainly out best quarter of the year,
“We still had a strong wind against us in the last, so we knew we’ve still got a game to win here,” said Jones.
“We just backed our back six, said let’s stick to our game plan, run the footy up the ground and give the ball to our forwards in Padbury and Davis.”
“We were able to execute that plan around changing angles, using the corridor and becoming more unpredictable and from that the momentum started growing and the belief just grew throughout the quarter”.