St Bedes / Mentone Tigers overran a gallant Old Ivanhoe in the last quarter at VAFA headquarters to win on old-fashioned battle-of-wills by 27 points.
The Tigers stepped out to an early lead but were contained by Old Ivanhoe who pegged them back but through poor kicking for goal only had 6 behinds on the board for their efforts
Ivanhoe continued to control the game but the Tiges were regularly scoring majors against the play to go into the long break surprisingly 13 points ahead with Sam Anstey the Tigers’ mainstay and major ball winner.
All the signs were there for an upset as, Old Ivanhoe having again controlled the footy and still unable to apply sufficient scoreboard pressure, led by 2 points at 3/4 time. However, the Tigers through Brendan Neville were now starting to get more possession and run out of the stoppages and were pressuring Ivanhoe on the rebound.
The Hoers scored the first goal of the last quarter to gather some momentum but, as has been their trademark of the last three seasons, the Tigers came home with a barnstorming finish to kick the last six goals of the game with Pete McGettigan finishing off a quality forward’s game with six of his own.
The Tigers go into the mid-season break well-placed in third position with 6 wins and 2 losses but with 10 games remaining will have to bring their best form to the second half of the season to be up there with the best as the serious part of the season begins.
The U19s thrashed third team Old Scotch by 72 points to remain second on the Premier Division ladder while the Club XVIII lost a thriller by 3 points to drop from the top of the table.