General News
11 February, 2021
Lakers win provides breathing space
A TIMELY win has put Mortlake Blue in the box seat to avoid relegation in the Western District Bowls Division (WDBD).
A TIMELY win has put Mortlake Blue in the box seat to avoid relegation in the Western District Bowls Division (WDBD).
The ninth placed Lakers narrowly defeated bottom side Dennington Jets 56-54 at Mortlake last week, opening up an eight point buffer on the ladder with just two rounds remaining.
The win has set up a thrilling conclusion to the season for both Mortlake and Terang according to Lakers selector Darren Grant.
He said his side was now requiring results to fall its way in a bid to retain its place in the top grade next season.
“It gives us a little bit of breathing space,” Grant said.
“It’s not quite enough yet, we need a rink this week and next week as well as Dennington play Terang in the last round.
“Terang, Mortlake and Dennington all play handy teams this week so it could come down to the winner of that game in the last round.”
Grant said with finals off the agenda, the bid to avoid relegation had added excitement to his club’s season.
But WDBD by-laws mean the relegation battle could fall out of the hands of the bottom sides and firmly into the laps of the four division two finalists.
Clubs with two teams in the top grade can have no more teams earn promotion, meaning if a City Memorial or Warrnambool side won division two, this season’s wooden spooner would avoid relegation.
Grant said his club did not want to rely on those results to determine his club’s fate, reiterating once again the importance of claiming rink points in the last two rounds.
“Last week’s game against Dennington was full of pressure but we went into the game with the mindset that whoever lost will probably get relegated,” he said.
“It was a hard one for us and was probably similar pressure to last year’s game against Koroit when we needed to win although we had nothing to lose with that game.
“I could certainly feel the pressure and we had two out which made it tougher. But now it’s about getting a rink off City Red if we can.
“It will be exciting for us and the relegation battle should come down to the wire because Dennington play Terang – it’s at Terang but they went down to Dennington earlier in the year so we’ll be watching that game with interest.”
While Grant said trying to avoid relegation added excitement, it did not override the feeling of disappointment of how season 2020/21 has eventuated as a whole.
After reaching the finals last season, the Lakers have won just four games and have mostly featured down the lower rungs of the ladder despite making a positive start.
The club is at a loss trying to work out exactly what has gone wrong with its campaign but is still none the wiser.
“It was a timely win but it’s still a disappointing season,” Grant said.
“To play a draw two weeks ago against Warrnambool Gold who are the reigning premiers and then two weeks later only just beat the bottom side by two shots shows just how disappointing the season is for us.
“We still can’t figure it out.”
Terang Green sits in eighth on the ladder, two points clear of Mortlake after suffering a 64-39 loss to Warrnambool Gold.