By Lance Jenkinson
Werribee is a ruthless bunch in the Hockey Victoria men’s Vic League 2.
The Tigers crushed bottom side CV Blazers 5-0 to seal their finals berth, but were left yearning for more.
“It should’ve been a few more goals,” Tigers defender Ross Cowlishaw said. “We missed a stroke, probably hit the post about four times and then missed some open nets.
“We definitely had a lot of chances.”
Werribee’s mission for the day was accomplished though. The Tigers will be part of the finals action in September after making it eight wins out of their past 11.
After a worrying 3-3 start to the season, the Tigers have been red hot ever since, but could not rest easy until their finals spot was booked.
“It was good just to get the three points and then next week we can relax a bit more and prepare for finals as best as we can,” Cowlishaw said.
“We didn’t have a good start to the season, so it was good to get into the finals again. I think it’s our fourth year in a row we’ll play finals.”
Werribee took a while for its dominance to show on the scoreboard. The Tigers led 1-0 at half-time before firing four in the second half.
Sam Huxtable was the focal point of the attack with two goals, while Cowlishaw bobbed up with two and Michael Gallo added the other.
Huxtable’s performance was a talking point after the game. While he fired in a double, Cowlishaw ribbed him on the drive home to Bendigo about the ones he missed.
“If he has a bad day, it’s him scoring two goals, so that’s still pretty good,” Cowlishaw said. “He missed about eight goals today I think, so he could’ve had a really big day out.
“I scored two and that’s a good day for me, whereas Sam scored two and everyone is like, ‘you could’ve got eight’, but that’s just the quality player that he is.”
Werribee’s domination was largely due to its strength in the midfield.
Gallo, player-coach Andrew Purcell and Matthew Skoglund ran rings around their Blazers opponents.
The best part of the day for the Tigers was the debuts of teenagers Noah Cronin and Saxon Nozzolillo.
Werribee will host ECHO in the final round at President’s Park on Saturday.
While the Tigers are locked into fourth, they are keen to keep up their winning form.
“We’ll try a few different things, but we want to get the win because you don’t want to go into the finals after losing to a bottom side,” Cowlishaw said.
In women’s Vic League 1, Werribee went down 2-0 to CV Blazers, leaving it in danger of being relegated in the final round.
The Tigers hold a game and plus 4 goal difference over second-last Brunswick, who they will meet in the final round on Saturday.
