HOCKEY
UNEXPECTED second-half carnage has seen Footscray crash and burn to winless bottom side CV Blazers in the Hockey Victoria women's state league 2.
Irreparable damage to the Bulldogs' finals charge might have been incurred in an out-of-character 3-1 loss on Saturday at McIvor Reserve.
Just a week earlier, the Bulldogs had announced themselves contenders as they took it up to second-placed title hopefuls Albury-Wodonga on the road and were unlucky to be defeated.
Bulldogs assistant coach Bobby Skilton fears his team's campaign might have been derailed in the space of 35 minutes.
"It's very disappointing," he said.
"It could affect our finals hopes."
The Bulldogs are faced with the daunting prospect of facing already-promoted Altona in the last-round western suburbs derby to earn a place in the finals.
That will be no mean feat with the A's eager to finish the home-and-away campaign undefeated.
Skilton has not ruled out an upset result if his team's mindset is right. "It's a matter of how much the girls want to play in finals. The ball is back in their court. Altona haven't lost a game so they'll be tough to beat. The window may open again; depending on how results go with the other teams will determine it."
The Bulldogs went into half-time with a one-goal advantage. The travelling Blazers were let off lightly. The creativity of striker Esther Fithall, the playmaking of right-half Lexie White and the assuredness of goalkeeper Penny Mather pointed to 35 minutes of Bulldogs domination, but the scoreboard was not ticking over at a rapid pace because of the home side's lack of cutting edge.
"We were playing pretty well, but we missed a lot of chances," Skilton said. "You can't afford to miss the opportunities when they come up because that costs you games."
Such was the swing in fortunes in the second half it almost appeared as though the two sides swapped jerseys at half-time. The Bulldogs were only a shadow of their first half brilliance. The Blazers wrested control of the game to score three second-half goals and claim their first win of the season.
"It was a total turn-around from dominating to playing pretty poor hockey," Skilton said.
■Four goals in the opening 10 minutes set Footscray on its way to a 10-6 win over Yarra Valley in a shoot-out at McIvor Reserve. The Bulldogs were at their menacing best with Tom Griffin and Javier Telechea scoring hat-tricks and Rick Wiseman netting twice.
"We were all over them in the first half," Bulldogs team manager Neil Coster said.
The Bulldogs led 7-2 at half-time. The second half was a different story. The Bulldogs switched off defensively and allowed Yarra Valley back into the contest.
"Come finals, if they do that they might as well not turn up," Coster said. The Bulldogs face a stern test away to Kew on the eve of the finals on Saturday.
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