Football: Bulldogs stun Boomers

Bunbury pulled off the upset of the season when its desire for the ball and poor shooting for goal by the Eaton Boomers combined to see the Bulldogs record a season-salvaging two-point victory at Payne Park on Sunday.

It headed a round of upsets, with the Harvey Bulls and HBL rolling AMR and Busselton respectively.

The Boomers controlled the first half to lead 6.10 to 3.6, but had been wasteful in front of goals.

Ethan Maguire, in just his third league game, maximised his chances with two clever goals and with one from Clinton Garlett, the Bulldogs looked to be a little fortunate to be just 22 points down.

It all changed quickly in the third term as occasional forward Codey Hay kicked truly from 50m and the busy Ryan Sheehan scouted cleverly for the Bulldogs’ fifth goal at the seven-minute mark.

The Bulldogs were within a couple of goals and growing in confidence, with skipper Jesse Gribble winning plenty of the ball after a relatively quiet first half, while the Boomers were scoring behinds.

Gribble kicked an inspirational goal midway through the term and when Glen Howison came off the interchange to kick a rare goals the Boomers led by just two points at the final change.

The Boomers had been challenged and they appeared to answer it well when Jacob Ferrier and Leigh Kelly both goaled in the opening four minutes but unfortunately Brent Piercey’s shot was off line when a goal would have put them up by three goals.

The Bulldogs’ key period of the game came when Hay led strongly to mark and kick two fine goals from centre half forward to give them the lead by three points.

Bunbury did not score at all in the final seven or eight minutes but their desperation saw a number of ball ups as the Boomers fought strongly to retain their unbeaten record.

The Bulldogs hung on for a welldeserved victory but the Boomers have only themselves to blame for the defeat.

Ferrier had two set shots from gettable range in the last hectic minutes but could add just one behind to give him a tally of 1.6 for the day With little time left Cody Miller, who had been pretty handy all day, had a set shot from 30m and kicked out of bounds.

Scoreboard

Bunbury 0.4 3.6 7.6 10.7 67 def E Boomers 3.6 6.10 6.14 8.17 65

Goals:

BUNBURY — C. Hay 3, E. Maguire 2, C.Garlett, R. Sheehan, J. Gribble, G. Howison, J.Adamson-Holmes.

EATON BOOMERS — L. Kelly 3, R. Lilly, C. Miller, C. Atthowe, J. Branchi, J. Ferrier.

Best:

BUNBURY — R. Sheehan, J. Gribble, J. Williams, R. Hutchison, C. Hay, T. Rake.

EATON BOOMERS — C. Atthowe, B. Piggott, J. Cormack, M. Battaglia, M. Scott, W. Barnes.