By Callum Ludwig
Lilydale FC took on local rivals Montrose at home over the weekend, with the seniors picking up a crucial win over the side coached by former Hawthorn premiership star Gary Ayres.
The U19.5s started out the day in foggy conditions but went down in a fiery encounter 2.7, 19 to 6.15, 51.
Captain Mitchell ‘Gym Rat’ Van De Maat got up from a bout with the super-flu to let Montrose recruit and former Lilydale player Dylan Coppin know it’s “not his fault he goes gym”, before succumbing to fatigue in the third quarter.
Daniel ‘Spin Moves’ Ryan was at his pirouetting finest to be Lilydale’s best performer on the day, closely followed by Luke Phillips, rather than following Luke Phillips like he does the other six days of the week. Luke ‘Snitch’ Phillips isn’t afraid to take the man in the contest but did so in an unconventional manner to remove a Montrose player from the ground at the start of the 3rd quarter, pointing out said player’s nose piercing, a yellow card offence.
Ryan ‘Ninja’ Haley was lively as always, Bailer ‘Tall Skinny Guy’ Grant put in a strong running performance on the wing, Luke ‘Turkey’ Bates put in a valiant shift down back and Jaymin ‘Bull’ Townsley was strong in the contest to round out the best.
Ashton “Dobby’ Dobbin and Lachlan ‘Tickets’ Baxter were the goalkickers for the Dales.
The U19.5s have fallen to 5th on the ladder.
The Reserves came out with the sun shining but were also defeated by Montrose 10.4, 64 to 14.8, 92, Montrose holding the lead at every change.
Trent ‘Chunk’ Davison snagged four goals on the day despite previously holding reservations about playing the forward line, finishing third among the best to Ethan ‘Pony’ Filliponi’s disciplined defensive display and Lachlan ‘Old English’ Cox’s strong midfield showing.
Harry Gayfer, Matthew ‘Dip’ Di Pietrantonio, and Kai ‘Crown’ Van Leemput were the rest of the best with a notable mention for Ryan ‘R-Mac’ MacFarlane for his two goals.
Other goalkickers were ‘Dip’, Jacob Milsom, Jarrod ‘Blue Clouds’ Thompson and Jordan ‘Tubes’ Trollope who must’ve been aiming for the points given his usual kicking accuracy.
The Reserves sit 9th on the ladder.
Arguably match of the day across the whole EFL, the Seniors game went down to the wire, with Lilydale prevailing 7.7, 49 over Montrose 6.11, 47 despite the big outs of Macauley ‘Bags’ Beckwith and the tone-setting Mathew Phillips.
25 minutes into the last quarter, Montrose kicked a goal at the clubroom end to go 4 points in front and leave Dales supporters with a familiar sinking feeling, having seen the team fall the wrong side of a couple of nailbiters already this season.
With time not on their side, a kick into the Lilydale forward line was marked strongly by Jordan ‘Jaws’ Jaworski deep in the pocket and sending the Lilydale supporters along the boundary fence into uproar. The ground descended into silence as Jaws went back and began his run-up, only for the final siren to sound as he ran in towards the goal. Undeterred, Jaws’ shot arced towards the goal and went straight through the big sticks. Pandemonium ensued, with coaches, officials, reserves and U19.5’s joining the senior players in piling onto the match-winner who sunk the allegedly ‘best finishing side in the competition.’
Douglas ‘Marleys’ Wootton was sensational in shutting down Montrose forward Mitch Davis,, Isaac ‘Bazinga’ Biasuzzo had his best game for his new club, Beau ‘omg’ Mitchener kicked four goals, Riley ‘Santa’ Clausen put in a true captain’s display, Jayden ‘Tacos’ Depace was in top-nick and Marc Massarotti was a superstar and very tolerant of the inevitable questions sent his way about the kicker of the match-winning goal.
Rowan ‘Ro-Ro’ Tucker and Josh White were the other goalkickers on the day, and the Seniors climb into 8th on the ladder.
The Falcons take on Wantirna South away from home next week, before returning to the clubrooms for the 1990’s/2000’s-themed iPod Shuffle function. Get down, support the club and enjoy a flashback to the prime era of Sean ‘Ranga’ Hadju!
