Thornton leads Lions past AMR

A fiver-goal last half from former West Coast Eagle Ashley Thornton set up a hard fought 29-point win for Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault over Augusta-Margaret River at Brunswick Oval on Saturday.

The Lions could not shake the fighting Hawks in the first half but found their run as the sun set in the twilight match to win 11.10 (76) to 7.5 (47).

Perfect conditions met the two teams as they ran out onto the oval and the Lions looked like they might dominate early with two quick centre clearances setting up goals to take an early lead.

The Hawks settled though and stopped the run of the Lions, taking the game into more of a contested style of play which suited the visitors.

Both teams found it difficult to score in the first half with congestion and turnovers preventing both teams from going forward.

Ashley Thornton looked promising early but inaccuracy and a few overzealous marking attempts cost his team and it looked like he would continue to underperform.

The Hawks refused to rush the play with ball in hand, happy to kick backwards and sideways before moving forward to make sure they did not turn it over in dangerous positions.

This seemed to frustrate the Lions who gave away a number of silly free kicks and two back-to-back 50m penalties which cost them a goal.

A different Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault ran out after half-time, with vice-captain Travis Obal leading from the front with his run from clearances and accurate kicking going forward.

Thornton then turned it on with some fantastic contested marks and accurate goalkicking which showed why he played football at the highest level.

The Hawks never gave up but they simply could not match the run of the Lions and found it difficult to defend the number of forward options the home side presented.

Hawks key forward Hamish Shepheard looked dangerous all game but his obsession with playing on after taking a mark went against what seemed to be his team’s game plan and lost them many attacking moves.

The Lions will take plenty of confidence from the performance with many of their young players, including Obal, Zach Piper, Brad Strano and Jack Quinn, all showing improvement since the start of the season.

Scoreboard

Harv-Bruns-Lesch 2.2 4.5 7.8 11.10 76 def Augusta-Marg River 2.4 3.4 4.5 7.5 47

Goals:

LIONS - A. Thornton 6, B. Strano 2, B. Thornton, K. Aitken, R. McIntyre.

HAWKS - G. Garstone, M.Payne, B. Gerrans 2, H. Shepheard.

Best:

LIONS - A. Thornton, T. Obal, B. Strano, S. Hallsworth, T.Gleadell, J. Quinn.

HAWKS - M. Murphy, B. Gerrans, M. Gerrans, M. Payne, G. Garstone, S. Andrijich.

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