CASTERTON Sandford’s Reserves are celebrating their first win of the season after taking full control of their match against North Gambier on Saturday.

The Cats travelled to Vansittart Park for round five of the Western Border Football season and both the Ressies and Under 16s returned home on Saturday night with good wins under their belts.

Unfortunately, for the Seniors, a third-quarter lead and clear third place on the premiership table, slipped through their fingers, the Tigers too good on the day.

Juniors

THE Under 14 Cats were always going to have a tough task ahead of them, with the young Tigers the only undefeated side in the competition and the Cats yet to post a win.

To the visitors’ credit, they shook off last week’s 125-nil loss to the Saints and fought for every possession until the final siren, posting a creditable four goals, four behinds for the match.

A shout out from the writer to the young Tiger who, in the last quarter, turned the top inside out and took to the ground to help the Cats out, going in head-down-backside-up for the hard ball and joined in the cheering when the visitors posted a goal.

Great sportsmanship for such a young man.

Nathan Fidler and his Under 16s went looking for win number two of the year – a points-leveller with the Tigers on the premiership ladder.

The first quarter saw the young Cats unable to measure the speed of the home side, the Tigers 21 points up at quarter time.

And that’s where the yellow and black party ended, the Cats’ intense defence keeping the ball out of the Tiger’s attacking end for most of the second quarter, while a near-perfect three goals, one behind made it home at the other end.

From there the visitors took complete control, the Tigers converting just one of five scoring shots for the remainder of the match.

The Cats piled on seven goals, including a ripper bomb from 60-plus metres by Sam Patton in the dying seconds of the game, which landed in the goal square and was unselfishly shepherded through by Rankin Cleary, to bring up double figures.

Reserves

JUSTIN Carlin’s Ressies controlled their match from the first bounce, the midfield sending delivery after delivery into the forward 50 and finding a target on most occasions, Josh Searle collecting his first of five majors just minutes into the match.

The Cats led at every break and while accuracy at goal was not their strong suit, their defensive pressure caused similar problems on a much greater level for the Tigers, the Cats taking the win 11.9 (79) to 3.9 (27).

Kane Forbes was in good voice and good form, directing play and instrumental in helping clear the odd ball that made it to the Tigers’ forward line and presenting plenty of opportunities for the Cats to go forward.

Cats tall man, Andrew Russell along with Jarrad Smith and Hamish Carlin, were also a lethal combo around the ground, cutting off North’s forward runs and repeatedly sending the ball back into the safe zone.

Seniors

THIRD place was on the line in the senior match, with the Cats and Tigers sitting on equal premiership points and less than 10 percentage points between them.

North Gambier appeared to have an extra player on the field in the first half, the Cats having trouble stemming the peppering of short passes by the Tigers that found a free man on almost every occasion, but went into the main break just 19 points down in a low-scoring affair.

The Cats came out all guns firing in the third, Al McCrae tapping the ball from the first bounce into the waiting arms of Justin Carlin who found a running Gabe Parsons heading straight into an open goal.

Minutes later, Hamish McCrae posted the Cats’ second for the quarter to bring the deficit back to just seven points.

It was the lift the visitors needed and for around 10 minutes, despite several attempts by the Tigers to get their short, running game going again, it was stalled by the Cats at every turn.

Cory Wombwell was rewarded twice for bringing down the man with the ball and pressure from Dyl Ayton, Matt Killey and Diarmid Cleary on the Tigers’ attempts to send the play wide forced the home side into pass the parcel in the centre square and some costly mistakes, returning the ball back into the Cats’ attacking zone.

The pressure was rewarded again, this time Hamish McCrae sending a ball-up to Carlin who, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it move, handed off to Cleary who snapped the Cats’ fifth and put the visitors in front for the first time, 5.9 (39) to North 5.7 (37).

From there though, the Tigers regrouped and while the entire Casterton Sandford midfield and backline was attending to a ball up in front of the coach’s box, found Toby de Wit unattended and in goal range to post one of his seven for the match.

De Wit was again front and centre for an uncontested mark minutes later, his shot at goal missing to the left and got his hands on the ball within firing range for a third time, his scoring attempt this time saved on the last line of defence by Ayton.

A reprieve was short-lived, however, when the Tigers found Tyson Christophersen unattended in the goal square for his second and North’s seventh, their lead extending to just over two straight kicks.

The Cats managed to settle back into the game and stem the tide somewhat, going into the final break just seven points down.

And that’s where the good news ended.

The last term saw the Tigers ramp-up their short, running game of the first quarter and again appeared to have that extra man on the field, the Cats finding no answer to holding off the feed into the home side’s forward line – a seven-goal-to-three final quarter and 43-point win to North.

Ayton was named best-on for the Cats, while Michael Krieger, Hamish McCrae, Cleary, Killey and Carlin also got the nod for their efforts.

The Cats return to Island Park this week, taking on West Gambier and will be looking to put together a consistent four-quarter effort and make a dent in the Roos’ dominance of the competition.