Walcountian Blues at home - 1 Feb 2003

There has always been an intense rivalry between these two teams, and the current ground sharing arrangement gave that rivalry another edge. The Blues were definately fired up for this game, and from start to finish they fought hard - at most ground balls it seemed that the Blues had their second man there before Purley.

In the first quarter the Blues used the advantage of playing downhill, and got their names on the scoresheet first. Perhaps sensing an upset, the Blues continued to press hard, but Purley managed to get their noses in front by the end of the quarter to lead 3-2. The second quarter was an entirely different story, as the Purple and Gold attack moved into first gear, and scored 7 goals without reply. The Blues responded in the third quarter, which they only lost 2-1, to take the score to 12-3, but Purley had left the best till last. In the final quarter they completely dominated, moving the ball swifly and accurately in attack, and with many well worked goals in the 11 that they scored. Final score 23-3.

The one factor that seemed to have a major effect on this game was the slight slope on the pitch from one goal down to the other. It's only a gentle slope, but for some reason it had a remarked effect on the scoring - with Purley playing uphill in the first and third quarters the Blues kept the game tight, only losing 5-3, but when playing downhill Purley seemed to score at will, racking up 18 goals without reply.

On the down side, Purley's Chris Spence broke his wrist, which looks like it will rule him out of the Flags Final.