Match Report Round 8: Powell Lifts Ainslie To Win Over Tigers

Jaike Altieri

 It was a 2^nd vs. 4^thon the ladder battle at Alan Ray Oval on Saturday when 2^ndplaced Queanbeyan travelled to the 4^thplaced Ainslie. With one win separating the two sides on the ladder, a win for either team was going to be vital heading into the second half of the season.

The game got underway and the pressure from both teams was intense with a number of big tackles being laid before the Tiger’s Josh Bryce opened the scoring with a goal in the 9^thminute. It would then be a further 10-minute wait for the next goal with Jack Carroll-Tape kicking his first goal of the afternoon. Ainslie hit back late in the quarter with a goal of their own through Ben Jamieson to trim the lead to 5 points heading into quarter time.

Marcus Lawrence kicked his first goal to get the second term underway and extend the Tigers lead to 11 points, but Ainslie would fight back through the middle part of the quarter with Thomas Powell kicking his first and Ben Jamieson kicking his second to put the Tricolours in the lead. Nicholas Paine put through his first of the afternoon to extend the lead to 11 points, but Marcus Lawrence had other ideas, kicking his second late in the quarter to narrow Ainslie’s lead to a goal at half time. Ainslie 4.7-31 to Tigers 4.1-25

 Ainslie came out fired up after the half-time break with Nicholas Paine kicking his second within the first minute of the 3^rdquarter and adding to his tally minutes later as the Tricolours start to put their foot down. Thomas Powell kicked his second and Paine kicked his 4^thto make it a run of four goals in a row for Ainslie and make it tough for the Tigers to fight back. Tyler Collins then kicked Tigers only goal, which would be their only score too, to trim the lead back to 30 points at the last quarter, an uphill battle for the Tigers.

Queanbeyan showed some fight at the start of the last quarter having a number of goal scoring opportunities, but they were unable to take advantage of them. Ainslie then put the nail in the coffin, with Ben Perry kicking the first goal of the quarter to make it a 32-point margin. Jack Carroll-Tape put through his second goal five minutes later, but it wasn’t enough as Ainslie were too strong and ran away 26 point winners. Ainslie 9.13-67 to Tigers 6.5-41.

Thomas Powell was everywhere for the Tricolours, kicking 2 goals and gathering the ball all over the ground, being a key pillar in a number of forward entries. Tyler Collins provided strong tackle pressure for the Tigers all game and kicked a nice goal to solidify his game.

AINSLIE

Goal Kickers: N. Paine 4, T. Powell 2, B. Jamieson 2, B. Perry
Best Players: T. Powell, S. Camp, J. Cuzner, L. O”Neil, B. Jamieson, N. Foley

 QUEANBEYAN

Goal Kickers: J. Carroll-Tape 2, M. Lawrence 2, J. Bryce, T. Collins
Best Players: T. Collins, M. Lawrence, J. Carroll-Tape, T. Conroy, M. Bernasconi, D. Ross