By Tara Murray
Gisborne put out a strong four quarter performance to get its Bendigo Football League finals campaign back on track.
A first up finals loss to Eaglehawk was a distant memory on Sunday, as Gisborne took on Golden Square in horrible conditions in Bendigo in a knock out semi final.
The Bulldogs landed the first blow as they made the most of the breeze in the first quarter to open up a 30-point quarter time lead.
The margin was 42 points at the main break, before the Bulldogs kicked away in the second half, beating Golden Square 16.10 (106)-5.13 (43).
Bulldogs playing coach Clinton Young was thrilled with how the young side bounced back this week.
“After last week’s disappointment it was good to get a good win,” he said,
“The conditions at times were a bit wet and wild,” he said.
“There was heavy rain early before it cleared at half time. At the start of the last quarter, there was more hail.”
Young said the key for them early was to use the breeze to their advantage and get a good start.
He said once they did that, it was about playing some consistently good football for four quarters.
“It was a really good start to set the platform,” he said.
“From there on we felt like we controlled the momentum.
“We started to get on top and then the second quarter was an arm wrestle.
“At half time I felt like we were on top.
“It’s been about making sure we carried out things in the second half after last week.
“We set ourselves for this time of the year.”
Young said they had a lot of good performers in the win and it was hard to choose the best.
It was three of their more experienced players in Casey Summerfield, Tim and Scott Walsh, who Young highlighted.
All three have plenty of finals experience and it showed through.
Pat McKenna kicked five goals for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs now face Eaglehawk in a preliminary final.
The two teams have faced each other three times, most recently last week in the first week of the finals.
Young said they had learned a lot from the previous match up.
“We played well in parts, but when it mattered, they made us pay,” he said.
“We learned a lot from last week, positives and negatives.
“We’ve got a really young group and it’s exciting for a lot of the boys to play at this time of the year.
“We got the job done today and will take a lot of momentum in.”
It wasn’t all good news for the Gisborne, with both their reserves and under-18s being knocked out.
Young said to have had all three teams make the second week of the finals had been massive for the club as a whole.
