Riddell is through to the Riddell District Football League preliminary final after winning a thrilling semi-final against Macedon on Sunday.
The Bombers led for most of the match but were never able to break the Cats who were looking to avoid exiting the finals in straight sets.
The Bombers’ biggest margin was 18 points at quarter-time and again 12 minutes into the last quarter when Ben Said kicked his second goal of the term.
It looked like a match-winning lead, but the Cats had other ideas with Daniel Markworth kicking the next two goals.
Ben Said responded with his fifth to extend the Bombers’ lead before a Matthew Knox goal brought the margin back to one kick.
Jason Cooke had a shot on goal to snatch the lead for the Cats, but he missed and the Bombers hung on: 13.5 (83)-12.8 (80).
Bombers coach Jamie Elliott said it was a great spectacle for supporters of both sides, a match neither side could take complete control of.
“They held us and we held them,” Elliott said. “It was a good game of footy and they have some great players like Markworth and Cooke. Markworth, who can really play, got a hold of us late in the game and Cooke was brilliant all day.”
Elliott said that after extending the lead to 18 points in the last quarter, they had decided to continue on the attack.
“We had eight to 10 minutes left and I thought we could keep attacking,” he said.
“Cooke had the shot to put them in front. We then had a lot of decisions to make about keeping on attacking or putting players behind the ball. It went our way.”
Ben Said and James Nolan kicked five goals each for the Bombers, while Cooke kicked five for the Cats. Elliott said Said had matured this season after crossing from the Sunbury Lions. “He’s a young fellow who probably needed to come across to get a different perspective with his football.”
Matthew Panuccio, Haydn Ross, Nolan and Said were among the best players for the Bombers, who now face Broadford in a preliminary final for a shot at Diggers Rest in the big one.
“I watched the first half of Broadford’s match with Diggers and they played some good footy before Diggers ran over the top of them. We’ll have our work cut out for us,” Elliott said.
The Bombers’ reserves will play Sunbury Kangaroos in a preliminary final.
For more pictures of Sunday’s game, CLICK HERE
