March 30, 2009

Review One Blue South Round Eighteen:

The final round of fixtures delivered some surprises and brought down the curtain on a number of sides, Kardinya finished of their season with a resounding win they move back into One White next season clearly superior to all the other sides in One Blue South.

Vic Park as predicted also rounded off their season with a big win against East Fremantle to secure the finals and to get the double chance. Cockburn showed the form that most believed they were capable of by defeating Safety Bay.

Spearwood fought out their last game in this division to make Gosnells earn their place in One Blue next season, and finally the story of the day Mt Pleasant needed to win at home against Manning to secure their future; they went down in spectacular fashion and will have to rebuild next season.

Manning 97 (7½) d Mt Pleasant 58 (½)

In the game of day, Mt Pleasant hosted Manning, for the Mounties this was make or break, lose this game and they were relegated, win and they were giving themselves the chance to stay in One Blue. In the mid-week game the Mounties easily accounted for the Eagles; the home side were hoping there would be a repeat; history did not repeat it self, Manning came to play and they earn a double chance next weekend against Vic Park.

Best performance for the Eagles John Francisco with Phil Gillespie, Phil Dobie and Bob Connell winning by 18 shots against Geoff White. Peter Cole made the issue a non-event with an 11 shot win over Brian Jeppesen. Greg Fairhead topped of a big day for the Eagles by winning by ten against John Terrell.

The closest game of the day was between David McLiheney and Andy Washenko a draw to earn the Mounties a half a point.

Next week Manning will travel to take on Vic Park in the first semi final, only two weeks ago Manning won by two shots against the Park to pick up seven points in the first round the Park accounted for the Eagles by winning by 13 shots, the finals will be a tough affair the winner of this game progresses into the grand final and a shot at promotion into One White,

With a home ground advantage the Park must be considered favourites.
Next Game:
Semi Final Manning v Vic Park

Kardinya 92 (7) d Rockingham 58 (1)

Equal billing for game of the day, Rockingham travelled to top of the table Kardinya, the Rocky boys weren’t safe from relegation if the Mounties and Gosnells had big wins they were quite exposed to relegation, but up against a tough side as the Kardies their chance of causing an upset was very limited, in the end Mt Pleasant and Gosnells helped Rockingham’s cause.

Best performance for the Kardies, Mike Yates with Geoff Gould, Graeme Wake and Ian Hastings with an impressive 18 shot win over Tony Tuckerman, close behind Wayne Heldt with a 17 shot win against Norm Pascoe, finally Mr Cool Danny Comrie with a four shot win over Bob Costello to round out another very good performance by the Kardies.
For Rockingham Mr Reliable John Lethlean was the stand out for the visitors with a five shot win over Terry Ball.

The next outing for Kardinya will be the pennant play-off for the One Blue division; the Kardies must go into this game hot favourites, they are a 14-point better side than Bassendean; they clearly deserve the pennant based on their performance this season.

Next Game:
Pennant Playoff
Kardinya v Bassendean

Spearwood 77 (5) d Gosnells 75 (3)

Gosnells were in relegation saving mode they started the season poorly however stormed back into contention with two good wins in the past few games, this game against Spearwood presented them with an opportunity to save themselves. Mid point during the game, the scores were tied up at 28 apiece, at the 64th end there was only one-shot difference with Spearwood finally winning by two.
The Gosnells spectators kept every one up to date with the Mt Pleasant Manning game through out the afternoon adding to the drama on the day.

Best performance for Spearwood was Boris Yakas with Ivor Dragicevich, Ernie Galipo and Joe Salmeri winning by 14 shots against Jason Bryan.

For Gosnells an even performance on the three adjoining rinks with four shots separating the sides, Ray Roper won against Nick Silich, Maurice Crabb won against Dominic Salvetti and Brett Holland won against Ivan Unkovich. What next; for Spearwood it will be back to second division and see if they can follow Midland Morrison’s example and return in one season, for Gosnells it will be regroup and look forward to season 2009/10.

Next Game:
Nil

Cockburn 80 (6) d Safety Bay 70 (2)

Cockburn were looking for a good finish to their disappointing season, coming of a good win against Mt Pleasant they were up against Safety Bay, in their first encounter the Bay were too good winning by 11 shots, this time around the visitors wanted to finish on a high note.

Best performance for Cockburn Max Brown with Peth Novak, Jim McElroy and Paul Brotherson winning by 12 shots against Graham Scott, which sealed the victory for the visitors.

Joe Maravic won by four against Allan Holmes to round of a good finish for Cockburn.

For the Bay Colin Beard won by three against Jim Connor and Matt Massari won by two against Gerry Carpenter.

Next week Safety Bay travel to Vic Park
to take part in the finals, they take on neighbour Rockingham in the elimination final, in their last outing, Rockingham trounced Safety Bay to the tune of 47 shots, this time around the result will be much closer, the Bay has the talent to succeed and move onto the PM game.

Next Game:
Elimination Final
Safety Bay v Rockingham

Vic Park 84 (8) d East Fremantle 63 (0)



In a game that did not affect the table it was all about Vic Park preparing for the finals action next week, they had sufficient lead to ensure the finals were at their home ground and they had the double chance. In their previous encounter Vic Park won by eight shots; this time around, they did it more easily.

Best performance for the Park, Tom Reid with Geoff Keitel, Phil Long and John Evans winning by 11 against Dave Cure, Erron Martin won by five against Robbie Hunter, Brian Barnfield won by four against Garry Mitchell and finally Travis Vallance won by one against Trevor Scorer.

Next week Vic Park have the home ground advantage with that comes the double chance win the morning game and they go into the Grand Final on Sunday, loose and they take on the winner from the elimination final.

The Park will take on Manning in the morning game, still fresh in their minds will be the loss they experienced two weeks ago at the home of the Eagles, this time around the Park will have all the answers they will progress straight to the grand final on Sunday.

Next Game:

Semi Final

Vic Park v Manning

My Selections for Finals:

Semi Final: Vic Park v Manning – Vic Park will progress straight into the grand final

Elimination Final: Safety Bay v Rockingham – Safety Bay to win
Preliminary Final: Manning v Safety Bay – Manning to win
Grand Final: Vic Park v Manning – Vic Park to win and move into One White
Pennant Final:
Kardinya v Bassendean – Kardinya takes the pennant.