For the second straight week, East Wagga-Kooringal capitulated to a fourth-quarter comeback at Gumly Oval on Saturday, this time falling victim to a Temora revival highlighted by three last-quarter goals from small forward Charlie Boyton.
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Giving up a 28-point lead at three-quarter-time against Marrar last week was a nightmare for the Hawks. Little did they know the Kangaroos would make it a recurring one, coming back from 25-points down at the last break to win by seven.
Temora coach Jake Wooden was buzzing after the 10.12 (72) to 10.5 (65) win, having delivered some home truths to his players when they were down by six goals at quarter-time.
“That’s the best win I’ve been a part of, to be that far down and to not give up,” Wooden said.
“They got a bit of a spray at quarter-time and they just sort of grinded away as the game went on but obviously the fourth quarter we stepped up and used the wind really well, and just played extremely well.
“It was simple footy – first to the ball and using the right options – which we didn’t really do in the first half.
“But I couldn’t believe how big a turnaround we had and how East Wagga allowed us to do that… whether last week was in the back of their minds as we were coming at them, I’m not sure.”
Temora’s fightback did begin in the second quarter, when they kept the Hawks to a goal but kicked 2.5 themselves to trail by 26 points.
EWK was held to two goals with the breeze in the third quarter and going into the last both sides had had 13 scoring shots, but Temora still needed more than four goals to get in front.
They found that, and more, for their fourth straight win.
“The boys got confidence from that third quarter with how strong the wind was (for EWK) and we won the quarter. And they stood up in the last quarter – kicked the first couple and it snowballed from there,” Wooden said.
Ruckman Anthony Atkin was superb for the Kangaroos, who got on top in the clearances and started to make them count.
Key forwards Matt Wallis and Mark Breust contributed a goal each before one of the smallest players on the field stood tallest. Boyton managed to get himself into space three times and delivered off the boot to get his team home. Rob Grant and Gus McRae also had big games for Temora
Chris Gordon and Nick Hull led the Hawks, particularly early, while Brocke Argus finished with five goals.
Breust, in his first game back, copped another knock to his neck while key defender Charlie Vallance’s hamstring was also a worry by the end of the game, putting him in doubt for the Farrer League representative side to take on the Riverina League next week.
