SHAUN Noyen has played his share of big pressure games in the Central West AFL competition and his fellow Bathurst Bushrangers Rebels were certainly glad to have him on Saturday.
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It was Noyen who kicked the winning goal in the minor semi-final against the Dubbo Demons, the Rebels avoiding elimination with an 8-11-59 to 7-11-53 result.
Playing at George Park 2, the Rebels players found themselves trailing as the game entered the final five minutes.
“They were up by seven points and with about four minutes to go we got a goal. We got the next clearance out of the midfield and it came down to a contested possession in the forward line,” Rebels co-coach Tom Regan said
“The ball hit the deck and Shaun Noyen was able to scoop it up and chucked it on his unfavoured left boot and it sailed through the goal. It looked like it was hitting the post the whole way, but it got through in the end.”
In a match that marked Scott Jablonskis 150th senior game for Bushrangers and the 50th for co-coach Matt Griffin, the Rebels were made to fight hard for survival.
Dubbo booted three majors to Rebels’ two in the opening term to lead by five at the first break.
But the second term was much better from the hosts. Dubbo was restricted to a pair of behinds as the Rebels took a 7-5-47 to 3-4-22 advantage into half-time.
“They got the jump and were up at quarter-time, but then we came out and put five goals on them in the second quarter, so we went into half-time feeling fairly confident,” Regan said.
“I think we came off at quarter-time and just addressed what we weren’t doing right in that first quarter. We switched on after that, everyone was really pumped up and wanted the ball, it was more of a hunger thing than anything else.”
With their season on the line, the Dubbo players renewed their efforts in the third term.
Trailing 7-10-52 to 4-6-30 with a quarter remaining, Dubbo still had plenty of work to do. But the Demons went on to snatch the lead and set the scene for a tense finish.
“The heart was in the throat for a fair while there, but it was a good result in the end,” Regan said.
“At times we were able to use our width, there were a couple of times when our transition from one end of the field to the other was unreal and that helped us get a few of our goals.
“But at the same time, there was a lot of contested possessions.”
Noyen, Jablonskis, Josh Coyte (two), Harry Bowden, Isaac Hall, Jack Vogan and James Rigby all kicked majors for the Rebels.
The win sees the Rebels advance to this Saturday’s preliminary final against club-mates the Bushrangers Outlaws.
