Miners overrun in second half

By Marc McGowan
THE Berwick Miners’ second-half woes continued on Sunday when they gave up a first- half lead before going down 26-14 to the Croydon Rangers at Sydney Pargeter Reserve.
It was the second meeting of the two Gridiron Victoria sides, with the first ending in a 14-2 victory to the Rangers before the league awarded a forfeit win to the same club after a Miners coach was ruled ineligible.
The contest began in positive fashion for Berwick, with teenage quarterback Sam Walker leading a successful drive through a superb long reception to Jamie Stafford before throwing a three-yard touchdown to coach Dale Warren.
Lee Lindsay, who had a good game on offence, added the extra two points to give the Miners an 8-0 edge.
They took this buffer into half-time through the supreme defensive efforts of Dante Newton, Brian Afoa, Michael Tupai, Scott Sunderland and Ricky Logan.
Croydon came out breathing fire after the interval and two quick touchdowns gave the Rangers a four-point cushion.
But Berwick hit back, with Walker and Warren combining again as the latter caught the touchdown pass in the right corner for a 14-12 advantage.
The battle looked set for an exciting finish, but the Rangers put an end to that by finding holes in the Miners’ run defence to produce a further two scores and put the game out of reach.
Warren acknowledged his squad’s quality first half, but believes changes need to be made to improve its fade-outs after the main break.
“We dominated the first half, but we let ourselves down in the second half,” he said.
“Whether it was fitness or the Rangers adjusted, I don’t know, but you always assume that it was partly our (fault) as well.”
Berwick takes on the Southern Seahawks at Monash University in Clayton on Sunday at 10.30am and looks set to wreak havoc on its struggling opponent.