A tale of two halves: Blues’ surge falls short of Magpies

A five-goal opening term saw Moama grab an early lead and a goalless second period for the home side had the visitor cruising at half-time, ahead 8.4 (52) to 2.3 (15).

Unless the two teams swapped jerseys during the break, which seems unlikely, the proceedings after half-time appeared to be part of a completely different game, one in which Tongala was dominating.

Moama lost all scoring impetus, managing only a single behind in the third period, while the Blues found their shooting boots, kicking four goals in the term to close within 14 points at the final change.

A Tongala major in the fourth quarter brought the margin as close as seven points, but unfortunately for the Blues, they were unable to push on for any more goals.

Moama eventually returned to the goals column later in the fourth, and the Magpies limped home by just two goals after a dismal eight-point second half.

Thomas Holman led Moama with three goals for the match and was ably supported by a cast of six single goal-kickers.

Jordan Souter and Dominic Watt each kicked two for a Tongala side that would have been disappointed not to have gone on with the game and arrested its losing slide.

The Murray league is heading into a general bye, with the next matches on July 13.

Moama (8-3-1) will be looking for much more complete performances in future, starting with next round’s meeting with struggler Barooga (2-10).

It was a similarly lackluster performance from the Magpies when the two sides met in round six, Moama emerging on top by only five points against one of the league’s bottom sides.

Tongala (4-8) has now dropped six games in a row but will be encouraged by its strong second half in this game.

A match-up with Echuca United (0-12) in the next game will be a promising opportunity to return to winning ways.