IN a match between in-form teams — one with eyes on the top three and the other the five — real match-winners often do exactly that.
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Wangaratta’s match-winner, Morris medallist Jamie Allan, was a late withdrawal with a hamstring strain, leaving the Magpies without their midfield general.
Yet the could have won this match, but for poor kicking at goal.
For Wodonga Raiders, excitement machine Ross Tungatalum, who produced six of his eight goals in the first half, drove the home team to a 21-point win that provides a two-win buffer on the sixth-placed Magpies.
Tungatalum’s deadly accurate left boot that delivered three goals in each of the first two quarters bamboozled the Wangaratta defence.
At the other end, Joel Harris (four) marked “everything” and Robbie Hicks (three) was dangerous but their 7.6 didn’t match Tungatalum’s 8.2.
The Raiders had plenty of winners with Stewart Williams playing his best game in defence, Ben Murphy outstanding down back and through the middle, Matt McDonald turning back the clock and big brothers Hayden and Dean Heta controlling the air.
And, of course, coach Daryn Cresswell was delighted at Tungatalum’s display.
He said the team hadn’t played at its best and the Magpies’ intensity had “forced us to kick the ball high”.
He was happy the win gave the Raiders “breathing space in the top five.
He said “Rocco” Tungatalum was the Raiders’ only player to generate many scoring involvements.
“We turned it over a fair bit across centre half forward and they got a lot of rebound from that.
“You need a very good player to stop Rocco —he’s elusive and hard to tackle. He probably won us the game.”
Wangaratta coach Brendan Cairns refused to blame Allan’s absence for the loss, saying the Magpies “just didn’t take our chances”.
“We were not able to put scoreboard pressure on the Raiders,” he said.
“Sometimes you can say we’ve missed this goal or that but most of ours were pretty gettable.
“Losing Jamie hurt but we can’t rely him to do it every week, someone else needs to say” ‘I’ll gets the job done today’.”