Australian Football

Match Report

The last of the Saturday arvo matches sends us back out west once more, up the Port Road and over to the Alberton Oval for the Battle of the Birds as the Magpies and Eagles collided. There was a share of the points from their two encounters last year, with the Magpies giving the Eagles an early season reality check in the form of a 10-goal hiding at Alberton in Round 5, but the eventual premiers returned the favour at Woodville in Round 10 with their 68-point belting. The Magpies were able to put the first blotch on the Tigers' record last week with their three point win at Brighton Road, while the Eagles were 50-point victors at Elizabeth. Making a return from injury, Charlie Dixon was the drawcard for Port as he makes his case for inclusion in the Power line-up. The field was as slippery as The Parade was, making life difficult for both sides. It was the Eagles that ruled most of the opening term, but a return of 2.3 allowed the Magpies to be within a couple of kicks at quarter-time with their 1.2, the deficit was seven points in favour of the visitors. After scoring a further 2.1 in the second term, the Eagles were kept quiet for the remainder of the quarter as the Magpies kicked into the lead by the long break with their 4.1. At half-time, it was Port with a five-point lead. When play resumed for the second half though, that effort went missing as the Magpies were silenced for the whole third quarter. The only thing they could do was try to limit the damage, the Eagles scoring an unanswered 3.2 to go into the final quarter with a 15-point lead. Try as they might in the final term, the Magpies found it tough breaking through the reigning premiers defences, managing just 2.2 as the Eagles scored 4.1 for themselves to run out 26-point winners in the Battle of Port Road. Joseph Sinor was the Eagles' best, notching up 28 disposals, 22 of them kicks as well as seven tackles. For Port, it was Taj Schofield with his tally of 21 disposals and seven tackles.