Ainslie had a lot riding on the match and it showed in the way they set about their task against the Aussie Hotel Yass Roos last weekend.
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Ainslie seemed more composed and had much more possession of the ball during the first quarter. It was only the poor conversion rate by Ainslie on the scoreboard that kept the Roos in touch. Doug Watchorn had one goal but the Yass Roos trailed 1-1-7 to Ainslie's 1-5-11.
It was going to be a low scoring struggle in the varying conditions of wind, showery rain and occasional sunshine. The Roos battled hard to get two goals on the board in the second quarter but Ainslie responded with three more of their own. Doug Watchorn rounded out the quarter with two more for the Roos but Ainslie still held a narrow lead at halftime 5-6-36 to the Roos 5-1-31. The Roos were still struggling to get possession and the ball rebounded out of their forward line too easily.
An end to end tussle between the teams eventually led to Cam Attwell scoring a goal for Yass. Ainslie could not get the same possession game of the first half going and both defences were working hard to prevent scoring opportunities. The Roos made the most of the few scoring chances to get in front at three quarter time 7-4-46 to 5-7-37.
Could the Roos hold on? The start of the last quarter saw the Roos finally playing the ball in their own forward 50 metre arc. Simon Goyne opened the scoring to extend the Roos lead and a quick break from the bounce for the Roos had Cam Attwell snapping his second goal to give the Roos a reasonable lead with 10 minutes to go. The Roos return of two goals and eight behinds for the quarter was not brilliant but it did stop Ainslie from making many forward moves. In fact Ainslie failed to score a goal for the second half and the Roos took the match 9-12-66 to Ainslie 5-10-40.
Best for the Roos were Cameron Attwell, Simon Goyne, Ben Serafin, Paul Willersdorf, Tom Hanson and Aaron Wilson.
It was another win, however like the Cooma match, one that will no doubt have the coach pondering the form of the Roos as they are only three games from finals footy. The top five remains unchanged again as Cootamundra annihilated Gungahlin to stay on top, Goulburn narrowly defeated South Coast to keep third and Cooma benefitted from a forfeit by Eastlake to hold fourth.
The Roos will be at Hughes Oval next Saturday in the match against Harman.
I'll see you at the footy.
The Fox Terrier.