By Beth Newman
He might have a few extra grey hairs, but Matt Trewhella also has a perfect senior coaching record, after Wilston Grange beat Sandgate 8.13.60-5.7.37 last night.
In slippery conditions both sides struggling to take clean possession and convert opportunities at goal.
The first quarter was an arm wrestle, after Sandgate’s Jackson Dickfos kicked the opening major, finishing up 1.4.10 – 1.1.7, to the Gorillas’ favour.
Despite dominating the middle two quarters, with strong midfield performances by David Tough and Steve Brittain, inaccurate kicking meant they could never quite get away from the Hawks.
The young Sandgate side ran out the game well, but goals to Grange’s Jake Whitehead and Aleks Mathewson, put the result beyond doubt.
Gorillas senior coach Matt Trewhella wasn’t too concerned about his side’s conversion rate, which saw them score 5.13 at ¾ time, after the match.
“We tried a couple of things with our forward line, putting a couple of quality players deep and a lot of space,” he said.
“The skill was there, but the execution wasn’t, that was pretty much it.
“But we kicked a winning score and we held them to only five goals.”
The young Hawks showed their fitness, running out the game strong, led by a brilliant performance from midfielder Tom Overington.
Hawks coach, Rob Dickfos, said his side’s determination gave him plenty of positives for the second week in a row.
“We know we’ve got a lot to learn and a lot to work on,” he said.
“But the last two weeks, we’ve played sides that are expected to be front runners to a certain degree and neither of them got away from us.
“That’s a pleasing thing as far as we’re concerned.”
The Hawks’ poor disposal efficiency cost them some opportunities, both at goal and around the ground, but Dickfos was optimistic about his side’s ability to improve.
“We showed last week, especially early against Springwood, that our poor use of the ball cost us opportunities and gave opportunities to the opposition.
“Wilston Grange did that to us a couple of times. But we can work on those [errors] and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
“We’ve got some really good strong points about our side and we’re only going to get better and that’s the beauty of it,” he said.
Both sides now have a ten-day break before their next fixture on May 4.
To keep up with all the latest Allied Pickfords Cup news, don’t forget to ‘like’ our Facebook page 
http://www.facebook.com/alliedpickfordscup or follow us on Twitter: @A_PCup
