THE Swans Reserves will meet the winner of today’s Semi Final between Eastlake and Queanbeyan in the Preliminary Final next week after going down to Ainslie by 40 points at Manuka Oval on Saturday.

The game was played in very wet conditions, with the ground partially under water, and the bigger bodies of the Ainslie side won out in a tough duel.

The Swans were kept goalless in the first term with Ainslie kicking goals at the three minute and 20 minute marks to lead by 13 points at the first break.

Daniel Bradshaw kicked the Swans’ first goal at the three minute mark of the second quarter after Byron Sumner passed to Nathan Gordon, who got it to Bradshaw, and he kicked over his shoulder from 30 metres.

Ainslie took control in the next period of play where they piled on five goals and blew the game apart. Bradshaw kicked his second at the 30 minute mark of the term after taking a strong mark and receiving a 50 metre penalty. At half time the Swans trailed by 30 points.   

The third quarter was an arm wrestle, with neither team scoring a goal.

Bradshaw left the field at the end of the term, but pulled up well after the game. Kristin Thornton left 10 minutes into the last quarter, despite being the Swans’ best player, after playing his allocated time.

With both teams goalless for a quarter and a half, it took until the 16 minute mark of the final term for Ainslie to kick their eighth goal of the game. Four minutes later Lewis Johnston scored on the run for the Swans and Ainslie added one more goal before the end of the game.

Kristin Thornton was the Swans’ best at half back while ruckman Daniel Currie and Byron Sumner, half back, also had strong games. Top-up player Jerome Farrell, who played in defence, was again named in the best and Nathan Gordon was the Swans’ best midfielder collecting 37 possessions in the wet.      

The Preliminary Final will be played on Saturday 11 September at Manuka Oval at 2pm. 

Final Scores
Swans Reserves -      0.1 (1)    2.2 (14)    2.4 (16)      3.7 (25)    
Ainslie -         2.2 (14)    7.2 (44)    7.9 (51)    9.11 (65)

Goals
Bradshaw 2; Johnston 1