The Swans Reserves suffered their sixth loss of the season at the hands of fourth placed Eastlake in cold conditions at Manuka Oval on Sunday. By the end of the game the Swans had limited options on the bench and Eastlake finished the game five point winners.

The Swans lost Nick Davis, who was stretchered from the field with a knee injury, in the first quarter and top-up player Ryan Bottin-Noonan was unable to finish the game after injuring his ankle.

Ben Mathews was again in the Swans best, playing in the midfield, along with Jesse White who contested strongly in the forward line and marked well. Aaron Bruce, Ryan Brabazon and Patrick Veszpremi also worked hard in the forward line and through the midfield.

Tim Schmidt got the Swans off to a good start goaling two minutes into the first term. After a quarter of fast, open football and goals to Nick Davis and Jesse White the Swans trailed by ten points at quarter time.

The second quarter was the Swans’ best with them applying pressure around the stoppages and in the forward line. The Swans kept Eastlake to just two goals while Veszpremi kicked three goals and White, Matthew O’Dwyer and Matthew Beckmans each kicked one. By half time the Swans led by 13 points.

The margin was extended to 25 points by the next break after Eastlake had trouble finding the goals at the start of the third quarter and the Swans tackled and chased hard throughout the term. Veszpremi kicked his fourth goal for the game and Jared Crouch, Beckmans and Bruce also goaled.    

In the final term with Crouch having reached his designated playing time and Davis and Bottin-Noonan injured, the Swans had limited options on the bench and Eastlake took advantage kicking six goals to one. After many lead changes and some controversy over whether an Eastlake goal had been touched, Eastlake kicked the winning goal from a free kick. The only goal scorer for Swans in the last quarter was Beckmans who kicked his third.

The Swans will play Ainslie on Sunday 20 July at 2pm at Ainslie Oval. This will be the fourth time the teams meet this season with the Swans having won the past two clashes while Ainslie took out the Round Three game.  

Final Scores:

Swans Reserves:      3.3 (21)            9.5 (59)            13.9 (87)           14.14 (98)
Eastlake:                   5.1 (31)            7.4 (46)             9.8 (62)          15.13 (103)
 
Goals:    Veszpremi 4; Beckmans 3; White 2; Bruce, Crouch, Davis, O’Dwyer, Schmidt
 

Best:    Mathews, White, Bruce, Brabazon, Veszpremi, Schmidt