HAMILTON Kangaroos remain undefeated after two rounds of the Hampden Football Netball League season, after drawing with Cobden at Melville Oval on Saturday, 49-49.

The Kangaroos were outstanding against last season’s runner-up as the team took the game up to Cobden after being behind by three goals at the first break.

The visitors got away to a three-goal lead early with two intercept possessions that resulted in goals, but after that the Kangaroos kept pace with their more favoured opponents.

Clare Crawford, who was celebrating her 350th game for the club, controlled the midcourt, and at quarter time, the Kangaroos were down, 10-13, with Hayley Sherlock and Danielle Van Kalken sharing the scoring evenly.

Cobden was making the Kangaroos work hard to get the ball into goals, as the Bombers played a zone style defence that kept the Roos away from the inside position to the hoop.

The home side had to unlock this defensive structure if it was going to dictate the play in the forward third, and Sherlock and Crawford worked extremely hard from the start of the second term to break down the wall, reducing the deficit to one goal at the main break.

When the teams returned to the court after the long break, the momentum began to swing towards the home side, opening up a three-goal lead, only to see the Cobden side come back late in the term to retain that single goal lead when the siren sounded to end the term.

Steph Holcombe was injured late in the third term (after playing a full game earlier in the day) and was taken from the game as Crawford was swung into wing attack with Kellie Sommerville slotting into centre.

This change was instrumental in the Kangaroos gaining an advantage over the Bombers.

With a little of a minute left in the game, it appeared the Kangaroos would claim victory, but the Bombers found a fifth gear to come back once again and hunt down that five-goal margin to tie the scores at the final whistle.

The Roos’ battled to score against one of the premiership favourites, but did enough to split the points.

“We recognised where the holes in their defence were, but they didn’t allow us to capitalise on these, and at the start of the game we were letting them dictate where they wanted us to go,” Kangaroos co-coach, Emma Sommerville said.

“We haven’t had a lot of match play and not a lot of time together, so I think that’s why our starts to quarters are slow at the moment, as we are still figuring heaps of stuff out together.

The Kangaroos’ next assignment the annual Anzac Day clash against Portland at Hanlon Park next Tuesday.