RICK DREWER

MINOR premier Angaston emphatically advanced to the Barossa, Light & Gawler reserves football grand final by thrashing Kapunda by 65 points in Saturday’s second semi-final at Tanunda Oval.

Having won the toss and electing to go with a strong breeze, Angaston won plenty of the ball. But, a tenacious Bombers outfit, creating many scrimmages and ball-ups, was successful in restricting  the Panthers to three goals in the first term, courtesy of Zac Heintze-Unger, Rhys Garland and Tom Jackaman.

Meanwhile, while Brad Matters, David Hall and Henry Smith gave their all to keep the Bombers in touch.

At the first break, Angaston coach Josh Young instructed “don’t stop now, man to man into the wind, everyone want it, pressure and start again”.

Despite kicking against the wind, the Panthers scored 2.1 and restricted Kapunda to a paltry behind to take a five-goal lead into the long break.

It was tight, accountable football from the Panthers, who showed far better ball use and passing skills.

For Ango, Riley Argent was outstanding, with Michael Pech not far behind him.

Sam McKinnon, Tyson Barnes, Sam Krieg and Josh Slater all had moments for the Bombers.

The Kapunda camp was not happy, with coach Brodie Cox was critical of the “weak contest and skill level”, before asking his men: “do you want to do it?”.

Meanwhile, Ango counterpart Young urged his team to “shut them down and bury them”.

By the end of the third term, as if there had been any doubt before, it was game over, with the Panthers bagging five goals, two each from Hentze-Unger and Garland, and one from Sam Hayden.

Late goals to Kapunda from Bailey Jones and Tyson Barnes made the scoreboard slightly less embarrassing for the Bombers.

Kapunda wasted chances, showed little or no plan when attacking, and was simply not clean when attempting to handle the ball.

At the final changeover, the situation was perfectly described by Young, who told his Panthers: “it was a beautiful quarter, dig deep, don’t go to sleep, don’t give them a sniff and be first to the  footy”.

And that is precisely what Angaston did.

Despite heading into the breeze, the Panthers again outscored the Bombers by 15 points to extend the winning margin to over 10 goals at the final siren.

Angaston was simply a class above Kapunda, with far better all-round skills, while Kapunda fumbled, constantly turned the ball over and showed little or no method, particularly when attempting to go forward.

Kapunda may well not recover from this drubbing in time for Saturday’s preliminary final against Gawler Central.