3rd v 4th was played out at Stradbroke Park on Saturday in perfect conditions for football. The Under’s gave Uni an almighty head start with the Varsity kicking the first 4 goals of the game. Brendan Goss who has been in fine form (form which has seen him selected for the Under 19 rep squad), started well and kicked the Red n Blacks first goal of the game. Nick Biddlecombe also got in on the action pegging the opposition back to 4 goals – 2. But the onslaught continued for the home side as Uni were on top at the stoppages and as a result kept pumping the ball inside their forward 50. The quarter time break couldn’t come quick enough for the OXFC as Uni extended their lead out to 32 points.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

It was to get slightly worse as Uni then started the 2nd term the way they had finished the 1st moving their lead out to 41 points. Enough was enough for the young ones and a few players stepped up to rally the troops. Robbie Follachio, Tristan Parker and Louis Tiernan were all creating plenty of play off the half back line and the end result was in the hands of Nick Biddlecombe who kicked truly. Half time was a blessing in disguise for this Uni team as the Xavs had all the momentum going into the long break.

There were many discussions at half time about how much the team was in the game. The margin was still 4 goals but the belief was tremendous in the rooms and you could almost smell a comeback. The onballers through Curtain, Harangozo and Nidam began to win the hardball, Tom McClusky and Tristan Parker showed there leadership kicking two big Captain and Vice-Captain goals and the ruck stocks of Walker and McLean were getting first touch on the ball.

The feeling at 3 qtr time was one of belief, having turned around a 41 point deficit into a 9 point lead there was no stopping this OX outfit. They were not going to let Uni back into the game and once again outscored them for the 3 quarter in a row. Jack Franklyn and Ben Plant were again sensational on the last line of defence along with Luke Bisset, playing on a wing, had a massive influence on the 2nd half of the game.

This win was no fluke, but a lesson learnt that you can’t give a team like Uni Blues a 41 point head start

Next week, the Under 19’s play Old Camberwell in another test as they hope to continue a 2 game winning streak and bridge a gap away from the bottom half of the table.