Eden 22 drew with Cooma 22

Slow Starting Tigers Claw a Draw

July 18th 2010 by Dave Evelyn

The spectators had barely settled in their seats when , for the second week in succession ,the Great Southern Inn Eden Tigers 1st Grade side were standing behind their posts watching the opposition attempting a try conversion. Two consecutive penalties to Cooma had put Cooma on the attack and they scored from a grubber kick to take an early 6-0 lead.

Another Cooma penalty led to Cooma's second try and progressed Cooma's lead to 12.Eden were looking scrappy in attack and defence, missing several golden opportunities to get on the score board through knock - ons and pushed passes. A dropped ball led to Cooma's third try by Steve Russell and the visitors were cruising at 18-0.

As the score began to look embarrassing, the Eden side finally began to get their act together, and after an Eden penalty and a repeat set of six Brad Chatfield blasted through the defence to score a great try which Todd Bolton converted to bring the score back to 18-6.

Eden missed a couple of golden chances with a knock on and then a forward pass being ruled right on Cooma's line before the ball was spun wide to winger Toby Timms who scored. That completed the 1st half scoring with Cooma leading 18-10.

Todd Bolton has turned back the clock and is playing brilliant football in 2010.

The Tigers intentions for the second half became immediately apparent when Tommy Lynch was held up over the line on the first set after the resumption, and then Matt Bell crossed for a great Eden try to bring the Tigers within two of the Stallions. Eden was now gaining ascendency and when Cooma's kickoff went out on the full Eden looked certain to score again but a bad pass cruelled a try. The Tigers were playing with much more intensity and direction and missed out on a couple more scoring chances before Cooma seized a rare chance to score after a restart of the tackle count. Fortunately the conversion was unsuccessful, and the score was 22-16 with plenty of time left.

Dane Bamblett scores the try which leaves the scores tied at 22 all

Eden received four penalties in a row after that, but were unable to crack the excellent Cooma defence. A Cooma field goal attempt failed and then Dane Bamblett- probably Eden's best on the day - showed all his undoubted class to kick through, regain and score adjacent to the posts. The Bolton conversion levelled the scores and with 12 minutes to go there was drama aplenty. The home side supporters were urging the Tigers on and both sides searched for a break. Missed field goal attempts from both sides had the crowd roaring encouragement but after an epic last stanza the whistle blew and the game finished in a draw.

This was a high quality match and the result was probably a fair indication of a game that neither side deserved to lose. It doesn't happen very often, but credit must be given to the referee and assistants, who also had good games. With all due respect to Bega, who are having a very good season, this scribe would be prepared to predict that this match was a grand final preview. Eden look to be on track to finish at least third on the table and will take a lot of beating on their current form.

Tigger