By RORY O’NEILL
KEILOR began the game with a flourish, but the Essendon Doutta Stars defence, led by Darren Pfeiffer and Peter Ntalianis, held them out.
Both teams used the ball well, the foot passing and lead marking skills were excellent.
The Blues went inside 50 21 times to the Stars’ seven, but at quarter time led only 2.3-15 to 1.2-8, mainly due to two goals to the division’s top goalkicker, Dean Galea.
In the second quarter Andrew Browne was thrown into the ruck, and with David Isbister taking the centre breaks, the Keilor forwards had many opportunities.
Their use of the ball was much more efficient, with the highlight being Galea’s presence up forward proving deadly, taking his tally to five goals by half time.
The home team held a handy 20-point lead at the major break 8.6-54 to 5.4-34.
With goals to Kane Barbuto and Luke Cartelli, Keilor kicked out to a six-goal lead in the third quarter.
An incident 80 metres off the ball caused Stars player Simon Clarke to be taken from the field.
This event stirred the Stars into action, with Douttas forward Alex Marklew helping his team stage a mini comeback, booting three goals towards the end of the quarter.
However, at three-quarter time, the Blues held a four-goal buffer, 13.7-85 to 9.7-61.
Just before the bounce Eamonn Ogden found himself the recipient of a yellow card, which meant the home side had to play with 17 men for the first 15 minutes of the quarter.
Keilor were able to maintain defensive pressure for the first 10 minutes until Cleve Hughes goaled for Douttas.
Up front, Dean Galea slotted his seventh for the match, but as the term continued, the Stars staged a progressive fightback, kicking another five goals to the home team’s one.
As the final siren blew, the ball was only 20 metres from Doutta’s goal.
The comeback ended with them falling short by a mere three points, the exact same losing margin as their previous clash in Round 7.
Due to the incident in the third quarter, there was an eerie silence at the end of the match.
The home team prevailed 15.12-102 to a gallant Essendon Doutta Stars 15.9-99.
Afterward winning coach Mick McGuane praised the individual efforts of Galea and Dylan Joyce.
He felt that his team missed targets early but during the middle of the game, used the ball more efficiently.
He was concerned that Douttas came out of half back too easily and felt his team needed to improve in this area.
Douttas coach Dean Wallis was unavailable for comment post-match.
KEILOR | 15.12-102
Best: D. Galea, D. Joyce, K. Barbuto, L. Cartelli, J. Papalia, D. Putt
Goals: D. Galea 7, J. Kennedy 2, R. Hards 2, B. Maud, K. Barbuto, D. Gourdis, L. Cartelli
ESSENDON DOUTTA STARS | 15.9-99
Best: S. Clarke, P. Ntalianis, J. Allan, P. Veszpremi, D. Pfeiffer, M. Calvaresi
Goals: C. Hughes 3, A. Marklew 3, L. Ronaldson 2, C. Lill 2, D. Pfeiffer, J. Allan, N. Sciberras, P. Veszpremi, A. Prestia
