Gisborne will have to regroup if it’s to keep its Bendigo Football League season alive.
After dropping just two matches in the first 15 rounds of the season, the Bulldogs have lost three of their last four.
The latest was Saturday’s qualifying final with Eaglehawk which means it’s must win from here on out for the Bulldogs.
Bulldogs skipper Jack Reaper said it had been a disappointing couple of weeks for the side.
“It was disappointing to go down by a couple of goals in the first final, that is for sure,” he said.
“We tried to be as positive as we could after the Sandhurst game which didn’t change the results heading into this final.
“The boys were licking their wounds after last week and we weren’t ready to go yesterday [Saturday] as much as we would have liked.
“We go again, we’ve earned a double chance and played some pretty good footy throughout the year to earn a double chance.”
The Hawks led at each of the breaks in the low scoring affair, but there wasn’t much between the two teams at any of the breaks.
The margin was 10 points at quarter time and then 11 at the main break. It was back to just two points heading into the final quarter.
The Bulldogs kicked the first goal of the last quarter to take the lead.
Eaglehawk responded with the next four scoring shots to take back the lead.
Two late behinds from the Bulldogs only narrowly closed the gap, with the Hawks winning, 9.11 (65)-8.8 (56).
Matthew Merrett kicked three goals for the Bulldogs, while Harry Luxmoore chipped in with two.
James Gray, Jacob Floreani and Zachary Vescovi were named their best.
Reaper said he thought there were a couple of differences between the two sides.
“One of the free kicks against in the first half really hurt us,” he said. “We were undisciplined.
“I think their tackle pressure was better than ours, especially early and set the tone in that regard.
“We were able to get on top and we couldn’t put the scoreboard pressure on them. I think overall they were a bit harder at it and they finished better than us.”
The Bulldogs are no stranger to being in tough situations in finals and Reaper said he thought their experience would come in handy.
Reaper said they were expecting a good match up next week and they were keen to go again and put themselves into a preliminary final.
The Bulldogs will face South Bendigo after it beat Strathfieldsaye.
The Bulldogs A-grade netballers will also play South Bendigo in a knock out semi final on Sunday after losing to Sandhurst, 46-35.
