Despite sitting ninth on the Southern Division 2 ladder Doveton turned the tides against Frankston Dolphins to win by 19 points on Saturday.
The Doves were thumped by 57 points back in round four and, after Frankston kicked two early goals, it felt like déjà vu.
But Doveton produced a huge second quarter with 5.4 to 0.2, taking full advantage of the breeze and ultimately setting up the win.
Coach Matt Stapleton said he was pleased with the way his side managed to halt Frankston Dolphins’ early momentum.
“Where we have improved from last time was not letting them go on with it after they kicked those first two goals,” he said.
“I thought it was one of our most consistent games over four quarters; I spoke to the group about it after the game, our consistency really showed on the scoreboard at the end of the day.”
After trailing 22-6 at quarter time, the Doves flew with the wind in the second term to outscore the visitors 34-2 – a huge output in a low-scoring match.
“I was pretty positive at quarter time to be honest, we knew that it was a strong breeze and spoke about what we wanted to do with footy in hand,” Stapleton said.
Dylan Bayley kicked four goals and was best player on the ground, but it was a positional change which sparked his performance.
“He missed the full season last year due to injury and played a lot of footy down back to start this year, he has been a defender for most of his career,” Stapleton said.
“We thought a change would be good with his pace and footy IQ giving us a different look up forward and he has been good the past couple of weeks, getting good reward.”
Doveton will take on Hampton Park this weekend at Robinson Reserve in a standalone game, which is a catch-up match from round nine.
In other games, East Malvern now has four losses this season, two of those have come against Highett who seemingly has the wood over the Panthers after winning by 47 points.
The Bulldogs put some time into Isaac Morrisby to keep him goalless and were led brilliantly by their captain Sam Jackson who kicked three goals in a best-on-ground performance.
Hampton Park made light work of bottom-placed Endeavour Hills to win by 55 points and with straighter kicking, the scoreboard could’ve looked worse for the Falcons.
Redbacks’ captain Liam Myatt kicked another three goals, while Trent Thomas and Myles Wareham also finished with three majors.
Mordialloc kicked 100 points for just the second time this year as the Bloods defeated Caulfield Bears by 31 points, 16.5(101) to 11.4(70).
Five goals from Matthew Debruin led the way for Mordialloc, assisted by Joshua Gibbins who had plenty of the football in the win; Caulfield coach Lynden Dunn (four goals) gave his best effort.
Chelsea Heights was too good for Keysborough thanks to a five-goal haul from Erishmiilan Uthayakumar, as Jordan Peryman (two goals) was named the Demons’ best.
It was an important victory for Chelsea Heights who now sit in third position on the ladder, edging out Mordialloc by just 0.33 per cent.
SOUTHERN DIVISION 2
DOVETON 1.0 6.4 6.7 9.9(63)
FRANKSTON DOLPHINS 3.4 3.6 4.10 5.14(44)
Doveton Goals: Dylan Bayley 4, Kyle De Ruyter, Nikolas Hibbert, Matt Parker, Matthew Rogers, Max Sheppard. Best: Dylan Bayley, Ryan Hall, Jake Ingaliso, Matt Stapleton, Max Sheppard, William Kerr.
Frankston Goals: Damien Rayson 3, Caleb Hardisty, Taylor Stratton.
ENDEAVOUR HILLS 2.0 4.2 4.3 7.8(50)
HAMPTON PARK 2.6 5.11 9.18 14.21(105)
Endeavour Hills Goals: Jarrod Marolla 2, Luca Agresta, James Archer, Lucas Archer, Alex Cann, Dorian White. Best: Nicholas Gay, Ben Swift, Ricky Boccari, Jarrod Marolla, Alex Cann, James Archer.
Hampton Park Goals: Liam Myatt, Trent Thomas, Myles Wareham 3, Bailey Dmonte, Kyle Potter, Deki Sember, Luke Sloan, Leroy Yomo. Best: Jye King, Trent Thomas, Emmanuel Jakwot, Myles Wareham, Makaio Haywood, Dylan Morris.
KEYSBOROUGH 0.1 5.1 6.1 10.3(63)
CHELSEA HEIGHTS 2.3 4.7 6.15 12.17(89)
Keysborough Goals: Max Corbyn 3, Joseph Bekierz, Jamie Plumridge 2, Ethan Bakes, Matthew Collett, Kyden Vella. Best: Ethan Damato, Dylan Webb, Michael Downie, Max Corbyn, Jamie Plumridge, Matthew Collett.
Chelsea Heights Goals: Erishmiilan Uthayakumar 5, Jordan Peryman 2, Max Cavanagh, Luke Clark, Declan Lee, Jesse Murphy, Nathan Wright. Best: Jordan Peryman, Rob Macpherson, Erishmiilan Uthayakumar, Joel Williams, Jack Alnwick, Sebastian Mooney.
Other Results – R13: Highett 13.7(85) def East Malvern 5.8(38), Mordialloc 16.5(101) def Caulfield Bears 11.4(70).
Ladder: East Malvern, Hampton Park 36, Chelsea Heights, Mordialloc 32, Highett 28, Caulfield Bears 24, Frankston Dolphins, Keysborough, Doveton Doves 20, Endeavour Hills 8.
Fixture R9 (catch-up game): Doveton Doves (9) v Hampton Park (2).
