FOOTSCRAY Edgewater's over-exuberence saw it slump to a disappointing 47-run road loss to North Melbourne in the penultimate round of the Victorian Premier Cricket at JJ Holland Park in Kensington on Saturday.
The Bulldogs' run chase was ravaged with flashy, unconventional shot making, which led to an easy dismantling of the top order.
The visitors had 40 overs to make 196 at a touch under five runs an over, but their resistance was eroded with a hellish scoreboard reading 6-29.
ulldogs administration manager Tom Brain said: "You would have to say it was pretty disappointing considering the bowlers worked hard to get them out for 195.
"It's the end of a long year, the level of concentrations might have been down and they weren't picking the right balls to play.
"All the early wickets were flashing outside the off side."
The Bulldogs' top batsmen have been horribly out of form since the start of the new year.
Despite losing his wicket for a duck, promoted opener Greg Sheehan is worth persisting with as he makes the difficult transition from the finals-bound seconds to the firsts.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dean Russ is also out of sorts with the bat.
His best score in his previous six innings is 10 to go with a string of single-figure returns.
Russ' contributions behind the stumps with 20 catches and five stumpings make him a must-selection as there is no better gloveman at the kennel.
Justin Lindsay has gone backwards since his glorious century against the Camberwell Magpies back in early November.
Travis Dean collected back-to-back ducks against the Kangaroos and captain Nathan Geisler's blistering pre-Christmas batting form has been non-existent in 2010.
Six down, it took a middle-order revival for the Bulldogs to avoid an embarrassing total.
Grant Lindsay turned it on with nine fours and a six to record 57 off 38 balls in 49 entertaining minutes.
Youngster Dylan Kight (12), all-rounder Carl Sandri (18) and No. 11 Lucas Dredge (22) offered late resistance.
The positives for Bulldogs coach Michael O'Sullivan came in the form of their bowlers.
Brad Robertson's break-out summer continued with 3-42 off 16 overs.
Spinner Carl Sandri was the chief destroyer, extracting turn out of a tidy wicket to take 4-47 off 15 overs, including the scalp of Kangaroos skipper Clint Hillas for 46.
"Carl's been consistent all year with bat and ball and I would say it's been his best year at the club," Brain said.
"That was close to his best bowling performance of the year."
The Bulldogs - sitting in lowly 15th place with 21 points - host Geelong in a tough last round match-up at the Merv Hughes Oval on Saturday.
"They've still got personal pride to play for," Brain said.
"The fire will be there and the players will want to impress the home crowd."
The Premier Cricket ladder:
St Kilda 53 (1.5326), Melbourne 49 (1.3839), Ringwood 46 (1.1829), Casey-South Melbourne 45 (0.9047), Geelong 44 (1.2653), Frankston Peninsula 44 (1.1594), Prahran 41 (0.9590), Carlton 39 (1.0770), Fitzroy Doncaster 38 (1.0721), Dandenong 35 (1.0567), Melbourne University 30 (0.9459), Richmond 27 (0.9863), Essendon 25 (0.9689), Camberwell Magpies 25 (0.7952), Footscray Edgewater 21 (0.8325), Northcote 19 (0.6789), Hawthorn-Monash University 18 (0.6529), North Melbourne 16 (0.9739).
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