By Mikayla Van Loon
Lilydale Football Club managed to get their first win of the season over the weekend in a challenging match against Upper Ferntree Gully.
Starting off a bit sluggish, the Lilydale Falcons hadn’t kicked a goal in the first quarter which saw Upper Gully take a four goal lead.
Lilydale seniors coach Brendan Fulton said at quarter time the team really focused on writing their own story and making history in a year where many people have written them off.
“At quarter time, you could have gotten a bit nervous about the situation, that we got jumped but we just really calmly talked about cleaning up a few things that we wanted to do but we talked about that story situation, that this is our story to write,” Mr Fulton said.
The Falcons came back swinging in the second quarter with the first goal kicked by Eden Champion which was one to be celebrated.
Mr Fulton said Lilydale has played 19 players across the first four games of the season who were debuting in the seniors.
“To have such a young group, with young players, you’re always going to have moments of fading in and out of the contest until they can get a bit more experience and stay mentally engaged in the game,” he said.
“So I was really pleased that after quarter time we were able to really finish strong and we had a real team performance. Each week we have been improving and that’s a real positive for us.”
Although Mr Fulton said the entire team helped get them to a win, there were some outstanding players that helped carry the team when needed.
In particular Beau Mitchener, Mark Massarotti, Riley Clausen, Jayden Wilson and Adam Camp who only played his second game of senior football over the weekend.
“I thought when the game was on the line, he was a real difference which is just outstanding, to be in his second game of senior footy as a 19 year old, to be the difference is just a real special effort and I’m just really proud of him,” Mr Fulton said.
In the last half the Falcons came home strong and in the last ten minutes it was looking good but it came down to the wire.
With only three minutes left, Lilydale excelled, taking a four goal lead.
The final results saw Lilydale win 81 to 53 in a special and confidence boosting win for a young side, who Mr Fulton said will only improve from there.
