Barracudas spoil unbeaten start

North Copenhagen 8.8 (56) def. Port Malmö 6.11 (47)

Reigning premiers North Copenhagen kept themselves in the hunt for a top-two finish and ended Port Malmö’s unbeaten run in a close-run affair at Stefan. On the hottest Saturday of the season, Port’s lack of a full interchange cost them as they fell away in the second half of the game. Whereas North Copenhagen were close to full strength, Port had to do without a host of key players and the loss of Tony McLoughlin early in the second quarter made things worse. Despite a valiant effort from all involved, a lack of accuracy in front of goal eventually cost Malmö what would have been a hugely important win.Port Malmö weathered early pressure from the Cudas in the 1st quarter and struck the first goal after Gaetan Blondeau was awarded a 25m penalty after some umpiring abuse from a North player. He slotted his kick nicely and helped Malmö on it’s way to a sixth 1st quarter victory this season. Matt McMahan kicked the other goal for the quarter despite being tackled as he kicked. Effective work in the back-line kept the hosts to 3 shots with the quarter ending 2.4 (16) to 1.2(8) in the Maulers favour.

On the scoreboard, the second quarter says it was extremely tight but in truth it was here that Port Malmö lost the game. After two quick goals from Krolmark early on in the quarter, Port Malmö took control of the quarter. The return of 2.3(15) should really have been 5 goals straight with all 3 behinds coming from set-shots no more than 20m out and at no great angle. Port went in to the big break 9 points up but very tired and having lost Tony McLoughlin to a head-cut that required stitches the lack of an interchange would take its’ toll in the 3rd and 4th.

Once again there was little to seperate the teams in the 3rd. North Copenhagen, for whom player-coach Steven Wood was excellent all day, had the slight upperhand and yet looked to be going in to the final break 2 points down until spearhead Krolmark kicked a superb goal from the tightest of angles right on the siren.

The momentum had swung the home teams way and Port Malmö could not raise their game sufficiently in the final term. Woods’ goal early in the final quarter summed up Port Malmös’ day as the Barras man dabbed a hopeful grubber goalward only to watch it elude 4 players and dribble over the line for a maximum. Erik Krolmark hit the nail on the head with the comment: “When a goal like that goes against you, you know it’s just not your day.”

Despite the first loss of the season, Port Malmö can still take some positives in to the summer break. Hans Andersson was fantastic on his return to the team. Aaran Higgins was again excellent all day and typified the Malmö fighting spirit with umpteen hard-ball gets. Ward and Scotford again proved a good foil for Higgins in the centre, the former kicking a beauty in the final quarter and the latter able to find space to mark consistently. Iulius Borcea did a magnificent job taking over from McLoughlin and playing on the dangerous Eliud Schmidt in just his second game and the whole team can be proud of the effort in trying circumstances.

Port Malmö Best: Andersson, Higgins, Parker, Ward, Borcea

Full match details here