It was a clean sweep for Lakes Entrance at Lochiel Park last Saturday, with their reserves and thirds recording comprehensive victories over Orbost Snowy Rovers in round eight of the East Gippsland Football Netball League.
The Blues were competitive in the opening term of the under 17.5 clash, maximising their opportunities and working hard in defence as the Seagulls held a slim five-point buffer at the first change.
However, the Seagulls found their accuracy and mojo in the second term, booting four unanswered goals to push the margin out to 28 points by half time. They didn’t relent after the main break, adding seven goals to two by combining tight defence with clever inside-50 entries and total dominance at the stoppages.
The Blues were ultimately left in their wake, going down by 10 goals. Daniel Martin (two goals), Tye Robinson, Thomas Joiner, Xavier Martin, Mitch Herbert and Jimmy Hardy all tried hard for the home side, but they were no match for the classy visitors, who remain firmly in premiership contention.
It was a similar scenario in the reserves, where the Seagulls put their impressive club depth on display. Lakes Entrance currently looks like the main threat to disrupting Boisdale Briagolong’s recent dominance in the seconds competition.
The Seagulls put the match to bed early with four unanswered majors in the first term, and from there it became a procession, with the visitors eventually eclipsing the Blues by 104 points.
Lakes Entrance showed no sign of tiring in the second half — often a challenge in reserves football — ramming home 10 goals to one to post their fourth consecutive victory of more than 100 points.
Thomas Joiner, Beau Hanratty, Jack Sanna, Hayden Mitchell, Dan Kane and Luke Borley battled manfully against a quality opponent at the peak of its powers.
Despite the heavy defeat, Orbost remains in sixth spot and firmly in the finals equation. They sit on equal points with fourth-placed Stratford and fifth-placed Wy Yung, who failed to trouble the scorers against the Bombers last Saturday.
The Blues will look to bounce back this Saturday when they travel to Bairnsdale to tackle Lucknow at the Lucknow Recreation Reserve.
