Flying high: Aberfeldie's Daniel Mangan and Strathmore's Daniel Jones contest a mark. Picture: Darren Howe
Picture: Darren Howe
ABERFELDIE'S brave attempt against top side Strathmore fell short in the Essendon District Football League premier division.
Sitting third on the ladder, Aberfeldie was in the match until three-quarter-time but wasn't able to hold on as the Mores ran out 29-point winners, 12. 7 (79) to 7.8 (50).
Aberfeldie coach John McMillan said his players gave everything they could in a tough physical game.
"We finished the match with only 17 men on the field and had a couple who were sore resting forward.
"The last term we tried to maintain possession in our forward line, as we didn't have the players to cover the whole ground.
"The most pleasing thing was that we played consistent football across the whole game.
"We're disappointed with the result, but not with how we played."
McMillan said the injuries played a key part in the game.
"We lost [Damien] Peverill in the first minute of the game and another midfielder had done his hammy before half-time.
"We lost [Courtney] Johns in the third term and then [Tom] Hislop early in the fourth quarter.
"We were also missing Mal Michael and Jacob Craven, our full-back and centre half-back."
McMillan was unsure how long the the players would be out with injuries.
He praised the efforts of ruckman David Fanning, Adam El Houli, Nicholas Cattapan and Zachary O'Brien.
For Mores, it's the second time in as many weeks they have kicked away in the final term.
"We're confident in our ability to run out the game which we did," coach Digby Morrell said. "Them having injuries didn't help their case.
"It was a pretty sloppy game and they should have been in front at three-quarter-time."
Morrell said his side's back six again stood tall when needed.
"They rarely get beaten and they matched up really well.
"They work well together."
The Mores would work on their contested ball use during the week.
"Give them credit [Aberfeldie] they were really good early on with the contested ball," Morrell said.
"We worked our way into it and ended up winning the contested ball, but we will work on it during the week."
The Mores face Avondale Heights this week.
"It's always tough to beat them and they are tough around the ball."
Aberfeldie faces Essendon Doutta Stars.
"They are a club on the rebound and will be primed to recover from a bad loss on Saturday," McMillan said.
"We've got some depth in our side and hopefully we can cover the injuries after this week."
Morrell said that after the slow first half he was confident that they could work their way into the contested ball.
He said Ashley Arrowsmith played his best game for the club and Shane Foulds was good in the middle.
Adam Iacobucci and Richard Little were among the standouts in the back line.