Tara Murray
Thomastown got a much needed win on Saturday in the Northern Football League division 2 competition.
After a tough first month to the season, the Bears had just one win on the board.
On Saturday, the Bears faced a Laurimar side searching for its first win of the season.
The Bears led at every break, but the Power made them work hard for the 16.11 (107)-11.6 (72) win.
Bears co-coach Sash Spiroski said it was good to be back on the winners list.
“When the fixture came out we saw all the teams that we had in the first month we were keen to take on that challenge,” he said.
“We play everyone twice but we started with Whittlesea that came down from division 1 and two finalists that went deep last year.
“There were some positives in the first three games but we couldn’t string four quarters together.
“We came out of it with a lot of positives.”
On Saturday, the Bears were able to put some of those learnings into practice against the Power.
Spiroski said they saw last year with South Morang that you can’t take any team lightly that comes up from division 3.
He said the difference between the two teams on the day was a bit more experience.
“They are a young team,” he said.
“We started the game well but credit to them they fought back. We got the margin out to five goals a couple of times and they came back.
“We were lucky to kick away toa five goal victory. It was that experience and having guys who played at a higher level, division 1, VFL [Victorian Football League] that showed through towards the end.
“We had the troops to finish the job.”
Youseph Dib, James Lucente and Billy Samie kicked three goals each for the Bears.
Julian Janev, Dib and Samie were named their best.
For the Power, Joel Lawson kicked six goals and was named their best. Mitchell Thompson and Luke Wilson were the other standouts.
The win takes the Bears to 2-2 and they now sit in fifth spot. The Power is one of two teams still without a win.
Spiroski said for their group they don’t over complicate things. He said for them they need to put together four quarter performances and that the results would then start to take care of itself.
They face Lower Plenty this week.
“We take it one week at a time,” he said. ”We will look to build on that win
“Lower Plenty has strung a couple of wins together this season and are a much improved outfit on last season.”
In other results, Whittlesea beat Lower Plenty 17.17 (119)-8.10 (58) and South Morang smashed Panton Hill, 24.10 (154)-7.7 (49).
In division 1, Bundoora remains winless after losing to North Heidelberg, while in division 3, Epping and Lalor both had wins and Mernda lost to Ivanhoe.
