HORSHAM Demons put together three winning quarters of football when the reining premiers defeated Southern Mallee Giants on Saturday night.
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A strong opening half saw the Demons come out 12.12 (84) to 7.7 (49) winners.
The Demons had a strong start to the contest and continued in the same manner throughout.
Demons coach Deek Roberts said it was a difficult game.
“It was a good, hard contest. Both teams cracked in, a few things went our way. A couple things went our way but we played the full four quarters,” he said.
Three quarters went the way of the Demons, the Giants won the third quarter by three points.
“All in all we played the whole game which was good,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the game involved a lot of contested possessions.
“Our back line stood up and we sort of set up from there,” he said.
“I think we slowed up their free-flowing run through the middle.
“We didn’t allow them to get a run on the board, they kicked one or two goals and then we wrestled back.”
Brad Hartigan was named best on ground for the Demons.
“The Giants have some really good midfielders, (Hartigan) just went all day and continued to crack in,” he said.
Roberts said Alex Harfield and Ben Lakin played were resilient the back line while Ryan Kemp played another strong game up forward.
“Everyone played their role which is all we asked,” he said.
“We had pressure on the ball carrier all day.”
Giants coach Coleman Schache said he was disappointed with the result of the game.
“They were too quick and clean for us. They moved the ball very well,” he said.
Schache said if the Giants need to continue to work on structure and clean movement of the ball if they want to compete with the best in the Wimmera league.
“We’ll need to keep working on our work rate,” he said.
Schache said the Demons had an even contribution by each player.
“Everyone chipped in for them,” he said.
“They got away early and we couldn’t peg them back, our first half was really poor. To our boys credit, we pegged them back in the second half but there was too much damage done for us to come back.
“Need to be prepared to play four quarters or else it will cost you games of footy.”
Schache said the Webster brothers, Ben and Josh played well, he said both players put in a full game effort.
Schache said Leigh Stewart battled all day when he was challenged with defending against the Demons.