Tara Murray
A few nerves soon became joy for Woodend-Hesket in the Riddell District Football League women’s knockout semi final with Melton.
Both sides were searching for their first finals win in the RDFL and it came down to the final kick of the day on Saturday night at Gilbert Gordon Reserve.
Melton was awarded a free kick as the siren went in their forward line. They trailed by four points with its season on the line.
Chelsea Lapsley had the ball on the boundary line with the opportunity to be the hero for the Bloods.
Lapsley’s kick went left leaving her side heartbroken and giving the Hawks a hard fought 1.7 (13)-.1.4 (10) win.
Hawks coach Scott Caton said it was pretty special to get the win.
“It was heart in chest while we were out there,” he said. “The last kick fell our way.
“It was a pretty hard shot. I have coached Chelsea at interleague and she’s a good player.. I was never confident it would miss.
“I think the pressure got to her.”
Both teams struggled to hit the scoreboard in the low scoring affair,
The Hawks kicked the only two points in the first quarter before the Bloods kicked the first goal of the game in the second quarter.
The margin was four points heading into the final quarter. Caton said they had a lot of the ball but weren’t able to put it on the scoreboard.
“We had fought back hard to get the lead,” Caton said. “We kicked truly in the last quarter.”
Katrina Bau was the goal kicker for the Hawks. Molly Connell, Bau and Mariam Habib were named their best.
Caton said they know they can improve heading into the preliminary final with Kyneton.
The Hawks have never beaten the Tigers, who lost the other semi final to Macedon.
“It’s a big test,” he said. “We didn’t play our best and we have confidence in our best football.
“It’s never as good or as bad as it seems. We’ll look to do what we do well.
“The first time we played them this year it was seven points and we were able to match them on the day.
“We’ll look to go head to head and look to play our best football. I have no doubt that if we can do that we can beat them.”
