The Box Hill Hawks had their best win of the season on Saturday afternoon at Box Hill City Oval after defeating Collingwood by four points, 10.13.73 to 10.9.69.
The game was free-flowing early with players finding the ball and delivering inside their attacking 50.
For all the chances both sides had early in the game, the first goal didn’t come until Collingwood kicked the first of the game at the 13 minute mark.
The first quarter seemed an even contest with both sides winning the same amount of the ball; however Collingwood took their chances when going forward.
The Hawks’ first goal didn’t come until the start of the second quarter when Captain Sam Gibson finally got the Hawks on the scoring board.
Box Hill’s forward structure saw the Hawks kick six goals to one in the second term.
Box Hill forced Collingwood to kick long to contests where the ball wouldn’t get into the Magpies’ forward half, and when Collingwood did go forward, the Hawks were defending well and moving the ball out of defence with ease.
The Hawks kicked three goals in three minutes to head into half-time with a 14 point lead.
In the third term Box Hill had lost their run that gave them the advantage in the second quarter. It seemed as if Collingwood was working harder to get to the contests as Box Hill looked tired and sluggish.
It was a disappointing quarter for the Hawks, only kicking 1.2, with the 14 point half-time lead cut to just three points at three quarter time.
It was a bad start to the final term for Box Hill who were making simple skill errors, with Collingwood capitalising and kicking two early goals.
Box Hill’s first goal of the fourth quarter came from a long bomb from Taylor Gilchrist to Luke Lowden, who was left unmanned in the forward pocket. Lowden gave off to Derick Wanganeen who put it through at the 15 minute mark of the final term.
Box Hill’s three last quarter goals came from quick ball movement in the backline, with with goal coming from a player dashing through the centre square from the backline.
Box Hill hit the front at the 29 minute mark when Xavier Ellis gave a perfect pass to Luke Lowden inside the forward 50. Lowden stood about 40 metres out on a 50 degree angle but managed to slot it through with no trouble.
The final few minutes saw the Hawks defending well to notch another win for the 2011 season.
The Hawks take on Casey at Casey Field next Sunday 10 July.
Box Hill: 0.5/6.9/7.11/10.13.73
Collingwood: 3.3/4.7/7.8/10.9.69
Goals: D. Wanganeen 2, L. Tobin , B. Monkhorst , J. Morton , A. Pattison , S. Gibson , X. Ellis , B. Fagan , T. Gilchrist
Best: R. Milne, B. Neil, X. Ellis, T. Duryea, S. Gibson, A. Pattison
