Tara Murray
Macedon has shown that it can’t be discounted in the finals race after an upset win against Romsey in a Riddell District Football League elimination final.
After sneaking into finals and having not beaten a team above them, the Cats were the back runner of the five teams left.
But on Sunday they produced some of their best football of the year to knock off the Redbacks.
The Redbacks kicked the first two goals of the game and didn’t score another until late in the fourth quarter.
The Cats found their groove in between to win, 8.8 (56)-4.8 (32).
Cats coach Al Meldrum said they went in with the mentality of they had nothing to lose and it paid off.
“Most people going there today would have thought we were underdogs and we deserve to be,” he said.
“The boys stepped up and played a finals brand of football. It gets us the win and we live to fight another day.
“We executed a really strong performance and it was hard to pinpoint standout players, with everyone contributing and it got us what we wanted.”
The Redbacks won the toss and elected to kick with the wind. They led by 16 points at quarter, but Meldrum said it could have been a different story.
“Our pressure and intensity was really good,” he said.
“They didn’t make most of it and kicked 2.5, if it had been 5.2 it would have been a different story.
“They didn’t capitalise the way they would have liked and we stuck fat.”
While the Redbacks were wasteful in front of goal early, the Cats were anything but. They kicked 6.1 for the second quarter to lead by 21 points at the main break.
“We then took our opportunities in the second quarter with the breeze and we nailed it,” Meldrum said.
“We got the ball out of the middle and the pressure was up. We were able to capitalise on our opportunities, which pretty much got us the win.
After half time, the teams kicked two goals each. Meldrum was thrilled with the defensive pressure across the whole ground.
Matthew Knox kicked three goals for the Cats, while Jason Cooke got two goals. Jordan Dyer was named their best.
Nathan Rayment was the Redbacks best.
Meldrum said after the tough year they’ve had it was satisfying to get a finals win, with their best performance of the season.
While now full on confidence, Meldrum knows they are the underdogs this week in their semi final with Diggers Rest. The Burras were smashed by Wallan in their qualifying final. Wallan faces Riddell for a spot in the grand final in the other semi final this week.
“I saw the game,” he said. “Wallan were clinical while Diggers Rest would be disappointed after such a strong season.
“All the pressure is on them and we go in with zero expectations. Everyone is expecting them to come out firing and respond.
“We don’t deserve to go in as favourites and the guys have embraced that.”
