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The Downtown Dingoes roared back into contention for the AARFL trophy last Saturday with a resounding win against the Buckhead Bushrangers. After a very even first half, the Dingoes asserted their authority in the second half to run away with a 6 goal victory.

With our intrepid reporter not making it the game until half time, the first half is a mystery apart from the closeness of the scoreboard. Goals to Robinson (and a return to form), Garofalo and Frost were matched by goals to LaRosa, Jones and Evans.

At the first break it was Buckhead slightly ahead - 4.1 (25) to 3.3 (21) and at the half time break, it was the Dingoes that had moved in front - 7.5 (47) to 6.2 (38).

The third quarter started with the old stager Jim Batten returning to the playing field since whenever. With knees carefully packaged in his knee braces, Batten moved easily to his post at Full-Forward and was quickly involved in the play - watching a long soaring kick from Ross LaRosa sail over his head and through for a goal. Another goal, from Dave Evans, was carefully and skillfully shepherded through as the Bushrangers attempted to get back in front of the Dingoes. But the Dingoes had other ideas and were quick to respond with goals from Kraska and Searle. It was still a close game with Alan Mobley regularly running from Full back to gather kicks and drive the ball into the Dingo forward line. The quarter just belonged to the Dingoes and they slightly increased their lead by the three quarter time siren.

At three quarter time, it was still the Dingoes in front - 12.6 (78) to 10.4 (64).

The Bushrangers realized it was do or die time and started the final quarter with a rush. Excellent passing from Curtis Jones to a diving Batten and a disputed mark (only he will know whether it hit the ground) led to the first goal for the quarter. With his opponent over running the play, Batten didn't wait for the umpire's decision, but turned and drilled through his first goal of the season from a tight angle. Another long kick to the Bushies forward line, left Batten once again alone and in front and he soccered through their second goal of the quarter.

But it wasn't to be for the Bushrangers as the Dingoes asserted their speed and teamwork and banged through 6 straight goals to take a comfortable lead. First it was Captain Garofalo scoring, then Searle, then Robinson, then Frost. It was raining goals and with Wayne Kraska being a great focal point to shoot for, it was all Downtown. The Bushrangers ran out of steam by the 4th goal and from then on it was just a matter of how far.

The final score was the Downtown Dingoes running out deserved victors by 34 points - 18.9 (117) to Buckhead 13.5 (83).

Excellent performances from Ross LaRosa (with 5 goals) and Ed Robinson (with 4 goals) were the standout efforts for the respective teams.

This has certainly tightened the race for the trophy, but the Bushrangers have the edge in wins and percentage, but they know they are now in a race. With the possibility of some mid-season player trades in the offing, it makes next Saturday's game a very interesting affair.

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