Warragul Industrials in last gasp win at Phillip Island

IT HAD been a highly successful day for Phillip Island on Easter Saturday at Cowes, right up until former Norwood and Sandringham powerhouse, Goy Lok, found his Warragul Industrials’ teammate Luke Walker in the goal square for the equaliser with only minutes to go in the main game.

They’d lost the fourths but had comfortable wins in both the thirds and reserves, and also took six out of eight netball matches including A Grade and B Grade in comfortable style.

The weather was superb, ideal for the huge Easter crowd, the playing surface was lush, the merchandise stand was doing a roaring trade and the beer was icy cold, right to the end despite queues snaking away past the end of the clubrooms for much of the day.

The sun was shining, and the action on the ground was fast and furious… it was thirsty work!

There’s little doubt this feature event of the Phillip Island Bulldogs’ season was a raging financial success and it looked set to be a thrilling triumph on the field as well when the Island’s coach Cam Pedersen accepted a soft pass from Hayden Bruce after good lead up work by his brother Charlie and stretched the lead to 13 points at the 22-minute mark.

But the Dusties’ players continued to come at Phillip Island, with Wilson McGillivray hitting the post to cut the lead to two straight kicks and both Goy Lok and Kuiy Jiath continuing to provide plenty of drive out of the midfield.

Jiath attacked the ball in the middle, fended off an opponent and found Michael Debenham, on to the dangerous Lok and suddenly there was only a goal in it.

The ball went back into Dusties’ forward line out of the centre, but Hayden Bruce looked to have made a score-saving tackle on the half-back flank and Charlie Bruce collected the loose ball superbly to relieve the pressure. However, Dusties’ Will Gibson turned it back his team’s way and Lok ran it forward to where Luke Walker finished off in style.

The scores were 16.10 all with only seconds to go but it was the dynamic duo of Jiath and Lok who again imposed their influence on the game and between them produced a heart-breaking winner, Lok leading up to a Jiath pass and calmly slotting it through from 35 metres out.

“That was an absolute ripper,” was the comment from one spectator.

“That’s as good a game of country football as you’d see,” said another.

Admittedly, they were both Dusties’ supporters.

The match had everything from an impressive opening quarter by Phillip Island including the first two goals by Billy Taylor, and a long bomb by Daniel Pearce which appeared to set the scene for an Island win. A late goal off the deck by Jack Taylor seemed to cement their dominance and they went in with a six-goal to-two opening.

But there after Warragul matched it with the speedy Islanders, using their physicality to create opportunities, with the close attention spilling over in the third quarter resulting in the Island’s coach Cam Pedersen being ‘yellow carded’.

The last quarter, with five goals either way made for a cracking finish and it was Dusties who got their noses in front at the end in a match that could have gone either way.