AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game
Round: 24 Venue: Alberton Oval Date: Sat, 08-09-2012 2:10 pm Crowd: 2,882 | |||||
Port Adelaide Magpies | 3.2.20 | 5.3.33 | 9.3.57 | 13.5.83 | |
Sturt | 4.2.26 | 8.4.52 | 12.10.82 | 17.12.114 | |
STURT by 6 | STURT by 19 | STURT by 25 | STURT by 31 |
Saturday afternoon football will first take us to Alberton Oval, as the Magpies played host to the Double Blues. The Magpies had been on a roll against the Blues, a five match unbeaten run from mid-2010 to late-2011. But that streak was brought to an end this season when these two clashed in Round 2, Sturt breaking the streak with a one-goal victory at Unley. Despite Sturt's position on the ladder, they could still avoid the wooden spoon at this point while a win for Port would see them take fifth spot for at least 24 hours pending other results.
With some key players on the sidelines, the Blues got the jump on the depleted Magpies with a 4.2 to 3.2 first term to take a six-point lead at the first change. The manpower advantage the Blues took into this game would start to tell on the scoreboard from here, another 4.2 to Port's 2.3 would see the visitors take the gap out to 19 points by the half-time break. When play resumed for the second half, the inaccuracy bug crept into the Blues camp. But it didn't harm them too much, Port did mount a challenge but the deficit would creep away to 25 points after Sturt scored 4.6 to four goals in the third quarter. The Double Blues would finish the job with a 5.2 to 4.2 final term to put the final nail into the Magpies' 2012 campaign, taking a 31-point win.
Sturt named Josh Jenkins as their best after his eight-goal haul, while Port named Jarrod Young as their best afield. The Magpies finished the season in seventh position, while Sturt's fate would be decided the next day... more on that shortly!