THE Western Jets came within an inch of causing one of the biggest upsets of the season on Sunday, leading at every break only to fall to a late charge from the Murray Bushrangers.
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Five goals to Josh Schache kept the Bushrangers’ hopes of finishing in second place alive, but the cellar-dwelling Jets gave the home side a run for their money, particularly in the first half.
The Jets kicked four goals to three in a first quarter shootout, before clamping down on the Bushies to hold them scoreless in the second.
After kicking two goals of their own in the second term, the Jets were 19-points up, leaving the Bushrangers with a lot of work to do to get back into the game.
The half-time break saw the Bushrangers regroup, and in the third quarter they returned to the style of football that brought them to third place on the TAC Cup ladder.
The midfield switched on, stifling the Jets’ run and creating loose players on the outside.
Ryan Garthwaite and Brady Sharp were solid in defence all afternoon, while ruckman Mitch King drifted back to take a number of crucial intercept marks.
Coach Darren Ogier said the Bushrangers did well to turn things around in the second half, after a lacklustre opening.
“In the first half the workrate wasn’t there, the structures forward weren’t there, we missed a lot of targets,” Ogier said.
“We had to address that after half-time and to our credit we did that, we started to take the first option more often and got our act together.
“That’s not to take anything away from the opposition at all as they played some excellent footy for long periods throughout the match.”
The Bushrangers failed to capitalise on the breeze that was blowing their way in the first quarter, leaving Ogier to watch the second quarter in frustration as the Bushrangers squandered a number of scoring opportunities.
“The breeze wasn’t impossible to deal with, we watched the Jets kick four goals into it in the first quarter,” he said.
“We went inside 50 about 12 times and didn’t get anything for it in the second quarter which was frustrating, but we showed a bit of grit to keep going and get back into it.
“To hold them to just the two goals in the second half was excellent, but the first half was proof of how quickly teams in this competition can turn things on their heads.
“I don’t think we’ve played great footy lately, but the pleasing thing is that we’re still winning games, and at the end of the day that’s really all that matters.”
The Bushrangers gained some breathing space on the ladder following the win, now a game and a half clear of both the Geelong Falcons and Eastern Ranges after they both suffered losses on Saturday afternoon.
Mansfield’s James Cousins will miss next week’s match against the Calder Cannons after hyper-extending his elbow in the second half.
The Bushrangers missed Nick Coughlan, Lachie Tiziani, Dylan McDonald and Clayton Oliver who all played in state league competitions, and Ogier was pleased with the efforts of the 11 bottom age players came into the side.
“Given we were missing a fair bit of experience, it was good to sneak a win like this, it does show a lot about the group we have,” he said.
