By Justin Flynn
Belmont coach Nathan Bisset said his nerves were “quite high” during the frantic final minutes of his club’s thrilling one-point win against Thomson on Saturday.
The Lions held on after holding a 28-point lead at half time and Geelong District Football League finals are not totally out of the question.
Belmont is three games and percentage out of the top five with six rounds to play, but Bisset insisted it wasn’t a priority.
“At this stage it’s just week by week,” he said.
“If results start going our way then we can potentially look forward to having a say in it but at this stage it’s about shaping the five.”
Bisset said he knew Thomson would hit back after a poor opening half on Saturday.
“We knew they were always going to throw something back at us,” he said.
“They’re a great side, well coached and well structured.
“We were just composed in the last couple of minutes and didn’t rush.
“We played low risk footy in the last few minutes and played our structure.”
Bisset said consistency was the goal for the final six rounds.
“We’ve had some slow starts with young kids in the group who are inexperienced and inconsistent, but they are starting to find their feet in senior football,” he said.
“I want more consistency in the latter part of the year from the young lads.
“They are a young, raw group starting to find their feet. We want to turn good quarters into good halves.”
Belmont was well served on Saturday by midfielder Jak Evans.
“Jak Evans was a standout with his contested footy in the midfield all day, you couldn’t fault him,” Bisset said.
“Ben Evans (four goals) at centre half forward gave us a nice tall target to kick to and Brent Jacques kicked his goals (three) and passed the footy off.”
Belmont takes on fifth-placed Bell Post Hill this weekend in a must-win game.
“It’s a tough ask, but if we do all the good things right we will be in the game in the last five minutes,” Bisset said.
Winchelsea kept its finals hopes alive with a 113-point win against Corio with Leigh Ellis on fire, booting eight goals.
Geelong West Giants thrashed Anakie by 150 points with Blake Dye and Ted Walliss each kicking seven goals.
Bell Post Hill emerged with a 45-point win against Werribee Centrals with Nick Costello’s seven majors a highlight.
East Geelong kept second spot with a 12-goal victory against North Geelong with Brent McGrath (four goals) best afield.
Inverleigh got past Bannockburn by six goals with Paddy Bourke starring with five goals in a best on ground display, however the win was soured with knee injuries to Kadison McEwan-Walsh and Michael Grozdanovski.
