The umpire in the centre circle holds the ball aloft his head and the siren sounds, its game on.
Port snares the first two opening goals before Porplyzia takes the crowd back to his 2009 goal kicking form and slots a tricky one from the pocket. In fact the next few minutes play out like a highlight reel from the year gone by with Vince going for a gallop down the wing, McLeod laying a powerful tackle and I even spot some manning up in the midfield.
As play goes on we force a turnover in Port’s defensive fifty through some more tough tackling. Johncock carries the ball with confidence down the ground. He kicks to Goodwin who handballs off to a running Burton who unselfishly passes to, “Tippy!” I cheer; all on his own he puts the Crows in front by a point.
The momentum momentarily switches to Port after Gray nabs a goal from a free kick but big Tippett is proving to be a hard match up in the forward line and nails his second from a set shot. Veteran Andrew McLeod, in vintage form, levels scores with a goal.
It’s quarter time and we’re one point in front but following last Friday night’s shellacking, when we were also up by a solitary point at the first break, I ere on the side of caution and suppress an inkling of optimism inside of me.
The second term begins and Port pile on some early pressure and build a small lead. Their lone supporter in my bay is cheering confidently while I’m moaning and groaning in frustration as five shots on goal miss.
“This is killing us,” I think to myself expecting to see the player’s head’s drop and our opposition grasp hold of the game, as has done all season. Until the man of the moment, Jason Porplyzia, coolly collects from the back of a throw in and finally scores a goal.
Shortly after we break away fast from the backline switching sides of the ground through Schmidt, Rutten and Bock who passes to Johncock to Petrenko who takes off along the paint of the boundary line.
“Go Jared!” I yell from the other side of the ground spotting an open field before him. “Run!” He takes on Carlile, shimmies around him with ease, has a bounce and delivers inside 50 to who else but Porplyzia. He immediately spots Douglas alone in the goal square who plays on, snaps and goals.
Moments later Cook, van Berlo the 100 gamer and Burton stream through the centre exchanging handballs. Burton looks to have a shot on the 50 but instead smartly sends the ball square onto Porplyzia’s chest.
Three goals in a row, a nine-point lead and Johncock tops the term off by taking a screamer in defence.
I stand and applaud the team as they head into the rooms at half time. There is a different feeling amongst the crowd. We’re standing an inch taller, talking up the positives and for once looking forward to the second half.
I phone home during the break to see how the game is looking on TV. “We’re looking so much better,” I boast to my mum who answers the phone. “For once we’ve changed things up but I’m not going to get my hopes up,” I reassure her as I fear the game will peter out just as all our others have so far this year.
Nothing is going our way in the opening ten minutes of the third term. Port has more of the ball but thankfully they’re failing to take advantage of our errors. Scores are level at 50 points apiece and the ball has stagnated on the half back flank.
Finally we clear it out quickly. Douglas is sprinting down the ground so fast he can’t keep up with his bounces and elects to soccer the ball across the turf. It sits up perfectly for Petrenko who goes inboard to Johncock who hands off to Dougie who is still working hard. He goes long to the hotspot, the goal square, and finds “Tippett!!” The crowd yell in excitement.
He steadily scores his third and pushes the Crows out to a six-point lead.
Back in the centre circle and Maric taps the ball straight down to Thompson who spots Douglas running into space just outside the 50. He gathers the dribbling ball, takes a few steps and sends the ball straight through the middle of goals. As the crowd rise, I rise, he turns and salutes and we’re all fist pumping along with him.
It’s a magical feeling. A feeling I haven’t felt in so long, too long. The ‘Adelaide’ chant fires up loud and proud around the ground. We’re behind you Crows! Just keep fighting.
At three quarter time we’re in front by seven points and its crunch time. We’re so close to our first victory of the season we cannot let the game slip now. We just can’t.
But we did.
Three quick goals to Port and its game over beaten in the end by 23 points by our archrivals. We simply seemed to run out of legs and a number of errors cost us at the most critical time of the game. At least though, I saw some much needed improvement.
We’re now sitting precariously close to the bottom of the ladder and face off against our fellow winless foes, Richmond, next Sunday night. If there was any time to win a game it would be this one.
