Blues Take A Bite Of Pie But Still End Up Hungry || OldDarkNavys.net

Blues Take A Bite Of Pie But Still End Up Hungry

Blues v Magpies

By Rick Latimer April 9 2003
Well we can't complain about the effort against the old foe but we could be forgiven for wondering where our first victory might come from.....

The Blues started brilliantly with a tap from McKernan to Kouta in the centre on to Fevola who kicked a long bomb in to a vacant goal square for the early opening major of the game. It was clear from the skill level shown that it was going to be game on and a battle for the ages.

Nathan Buckley racked up possessions for the Pies but they were not all as effective as usual. Trent Sporn wore Woewodin quite well while Beaumont and Molloy had an intriguing duel.

The Blues certainly didn't have it all their own way with match ups though as Leon Davis made an aggressive Darren Hulme appear silly at times while former Eagle Andrew Williams had a hot night.

Collingwood blew the game apart in the third quarter after the Blues lead by two points at half time. Carlton's concentration waned ever so slightly and the resulting loosening in defence proved costly as Molloy and Rocca started holding their marks and bringing scoreboard pressure.

Far from dropping their heads and giving up, the Blues rekindled their spirit and monstered the Pies at times in the final quarter. The pressure on the favourites was obvious but though Carlton did enough to cause some anxiety amongst the black and white faithful, the ability to complete the comeback was lacking much like several occasions last season. Let's hope the trend is stopped quickly before it again becomes habit.

Best players for the Blues were Brendan Fevola who was disciplined and brilliant, Anthony Koutoufides who created electricity we hadn't seen in a long long time. Also pretty handy on the night were Scott Camporeale, Matthew Lappin and Adrian Hickmott who kicked 5 goals from limited opportunities. I couldn't wrap this up without paying credit to Barnaby French who was masterful in his tap work despite weak negating tactics from Steve McKee.