Seniors downed ladder-leader and premiership favourite Old Xaverians by 28 points at a very windy Brindisi Street on Saturday and in so-doing maintained second position on the ‘A’ Section ladder.
The Tigers with the aid of a gusty wind were initially foiled by a well-drilled Xavs outfit who passed and held the ball very effectively early but slowly the Mentone team drew to a 15 point lead only to concede 2 late goals and went to the break an inadequate 5 points ahead.
With their first use of the wind Xavs also found goaling difficult as St Bedes / Mentone Tigers’ ferocious tackling limited the amount of space around the ball and the Tiger defence was able to springboard the running midfield into regular attacking forays.
At half-time the Tigers led the arm-wrestle by 4 points and a mouth-watering second half of football beckoned.
The Tigers had learnt from the conditions and with the wind this time ran hard out of the centre and with Michael Wintle creating opportunities upfield and Luke Wintle a conspicuous target up forward banged on 4 unanswered goals to lead by 30 points halfway through the quarter and looked unstoppable but the ladder-leaders regained their composure with 3 goals of their own only to be thwarted by a superb 50 metre goal from a strong mark by Peter McGettigan on the 3/4 time siren.
Xavs, not to be denied, battled manfully against the frenetic attack on the ball by the home team and a big home crowd in full voice willing their team to the line but could only register behinds before finally bouncing a major through half way through the term to bring the margin back to 10 points and the game very much on the line.
As the pressure mounted the Tiger backline, led by skipper James Tyquin, Paul Wintle and Brett Collins, stood firm and kept their heads before mounting regular running attacks into their forward half until they eventually broke through for a major at the 22 minute mark.
The Tigers continued to run and tackle the Old Xaverian ball carrier to create 2 more goals into the freshening wind and bring home a meritorious win against quality opposition.
The Reserves went down by 28 points to the equal ladder-leaders but have the chance to jump into the four next week when they play fourth team Old Scotch.
The U19s went down gallantly by 15 points while the U18s lost a nail-biter by 3 points.
Next week the Seniors take on another finals-aspirant in Old Scotch at Brindisi Street in a must-win match if the Tigers are to maintain second position and the opportunity to snare the double chance.