Pack mentality: From left,mart (Blues), Mathew Hartwig (Thevenard), Mark Mozol (Blues), Joe Williams (Blues), Josh Wilkins (Thevenard) and Liam Syrianos (Thevenard) contest the football during their A grade semi final.
THE Blues have booked a place in the Preliminary Final after defeating Thevenard by 25 points at Penong on Saturday.
The Blues went into this match in pretty good form, having won three of their last four games.
Thevenard hadn’t won a game at this point and after their close loss to the Blues in their last encounter, they looked to go one better in the Semi Final.
The Magpies started strong, kicking five goals to the Blues’ two to lead by 22 points at quarter time.
But the Blues turned their form around in the second quarter, utilising the football and going on the attack to kick six goals from fifteen scoring opportunities.
Thevenard could only answer the Blues’ scoring barrage with one goal to be trailing by 15 points at half time, with the end of their season being made more certain.
This certainty was reduced slightly in the third quarter, the Magpies going on a scoring run to kick two goals from six scoring opportunities, while keeping the Blues to just two scoring opportunities themselves.
Going into the final quarter the Blues only had a one goal lead over Thevenard as everyone geared up for an exciting final quarter.
The Blues finished the game in style, kicking five goals while Thevenard could only answer with two of their own.
The Blues proved to be the stronger finishers, winning 14.12.96 to the Magpies 10.11.71.
Cody Colbung and David Wright proved to be match winners again for the Blues, making the most of their possessions while Ben Burnett made a difference on the scoreboard with five goals.
Mathew Hartwig stood out for Thevenard while Domenic Denton and Johnny Kouvaris each made big contributions with three goals each.
The Blues have kept their season alive with this win, and will face the loser of the Second Semi Final between Koonibba and Western United at Thevenard on September 1.
For Thevenard it’s the end of the road, and although they have made a big effort to step up their game this season, they end without winning a game and will hopefully focus on improving the team going into next season.