Orange Tigers midfield ace Simon Kay did get to celebrate his 100th appearance for the club with a victory over the Young Saints at Country Club Oval on Saturday afternoon but in no way, shape or form was it an easy win.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Quite the opposite.
It took a gutsy, grinding fourth quarter effort for the Tigers to ultimately claim the three-goal win – which was blown out by two Orange majors in the last minute – after they let Young wrestle the momentum away in the second and third terms.
The Tigers shot to a 13-point lead at quarter-time but Young fought back to only trail by one at half-time. The Saints promptly kicked the first three goals of the third quarter to take a 17-point lead.
At that point, Young was controlling the midfield clearances and looked the more likely of the two sides to run away with the game.
But the Tigers, despite missing six of their regular big men, clawed their way back into the game with some excellent small-ball footy.
They reclaimed the lead right on three-quarter time and although the two sides traded goals through the final term, Orange sealed the 13.10.88 – 11.6.72 win with three back-to-back goals in the dying stages.
“We were a bit nervous there for a while, Young definitely had the run of the second and third quarters,” Tigers skipper Luke Thorley, a relieved man after the final siren, said.
“We had restructure ourselves a bit, pull an extra man around here and there and raise our voices a bit, give ourselves a bit more protection over the ball.
“We can’t take anything away from Young, they played really good footy but I think we just outlasted them a bit. We’ve worked hard on our fitness to make sure we’re running through the four quarters and I think that showed.”
The first of those three final goals, which put the Tigers back in front, came from Kay’s boot.
It was the only major he kicked in his milestone game, but it couldn’t have been more important.
“It was an easy one though, it’s hard to miss from 50cm out,” Kay laughed.
“I’m really, really chuffed, with the win and the fact the game was really competitive.
“As I said last week, I just really want to see all the competition’s teams doing well and to have Young come here and do that, I was really pleased with that. I’m really happy with the win though.
“A lot of the older guys came out, a lot of guys I’ve played with at the Tigers and that was really special to have them all here.”
The win was the Tigers’ fourth in a row.
“We’ve got a bye now so that’s essentially an eight-point game for us, getting these wins up is big for the boys but we won’t get carried away,” Thorley said.
“We’ll still take each week as it comes, play every side on their merits.”
While Kay was solid throughout, Mitch McKenna was outstanding in the midfield.
Orange coach Dale Hunter was also a constant threat up front, Parkes recruit Brent Tucker was gutsy and Chris Pethybridge kicked three.
But in the fourth quarter, it was Jacob Bowden who really stood up when it mattered, lifting those around as well.
“He was very good, he was playing injured too. He was sick and has a crook back at the moment as well so it was a big effort,” Thorley said.
ORANGE TIGERS 13.10.88 (Chris Pethybridge 3, Mitch McKenna 2, Dale Hunter 2, Brent Tucker 2 goals) def YOUNG SAINTS 11.6.72 (Brandt Riley 5, Brad McKinnon 3 goals)