•St Bedes/Mentone Tigers re-iterated how hard they are to beat at home when they extended their long unbeaten run at Fortress Brindisi with a typical gutsy, come-from-behind victory against talented, finals aspirant Old Carey in the VAFA Premier Division season-opener at Mentone on Saturday.
•In a tight first term of the season, Old Carey kicked early goals only to be pegged back by a dogged St Bedes outfit but eventually kicked away with 3 unanswered goals to lead by 18 points at the first break.
•In the second, the Tigers started getting first use of the ball with Daniel Sceney consistently beating the well-credentialled Panthers ruck combination and giving the Tiger running brigade, lead by Simon Richards and Mark Geschke, many opportunities out of the centre but unfortunately the locals’ forward line was not functioning at all efficiently and with a return of 4 goals 6 were only able to peg the lead back by 2 points against a highly skilful opposition who were able to tick the scoreboard over with beautiful ball movement and precision kicking to position – 16 points to the visitors at the long break.
•Mentone seemed to sense the urgency after the break and reined in the deficit only for Old Carey to kick away with 2 majors of their own and again the Bulleen team looked the more efficient as they then further extended their lead to 34 points at the 12 minute mark and a rare defeat on their own turf seemed a distinct possibility for the Tigers but the mettle of this team can never be questioned as they dragged the deficit back to 14 points at the last break on the back of outstanding defence from Jaryd Robertson and Dean Porter in one of his best games ever for the club
•In the three quarter time huddle there was a sense that the Panthers were vulnerable and that the Tigers famed, barnstorming last quarter was at hand for the first time in season 2012
•The last was a bruising affair, as had been the entire match, with both teams laying bone-crunching tackles at contest after contest as the Tigers slowly pulled the lead back to 4 points only for Old Carey to extend it quickly back to 10 but not to be outdone St Bedes through the tough contested football of Chris Richards and Hayden Jeans bounced back with two quick goals to take the lead for the first time in the game at the 20 minute mark
•Again, the Panthers responded with a major to restore their lead but the Mentone team sensed victory as they peppered the goals refusing to let the ball out of their forward 50 arc and eventually drilled a long goal from the Members side to again take the lead – once more they banged the ball forward from the ensuing centre bounce but only managed point after point as they looked for the sealer with the ball truly locked in their own half with only the very occasional foray into the vacant Carey end.
•Finally the siren sounded with the Tigers 3 points to the good after a 4 goals 7 to 2 goals 2 quarter that truly reflected the difference in yet another final quarter where the Mentone team absolutely willed themselves over the line in a manner typical of this team since their unbelievable, come-from-behind victory in the C Grade Grand Final way back in 2006
•The Reserves continued last year’s late season form with a great early-season victory over Old Carey by 25 points while the U19 Premier boys crunched Old Melburnians by 50 points at Albert Park. Our undermanned U19 South team competed well and showed much promise but were just shaded.
•Next Saturday, the Seniors travel to Camberwell to take on Old Scotch in what shapes as another close one while the Under 19s take on Uni Blues at Brindisi Street.