The two skippers from Saturday’s clash between Pakenham and Cardinia, Lions’ Mick Torney and Bulls’ Mark Cooper showed healthy respect for each other straight after the match.
Torney was proud of his team while Cooper could see areas of improvement for his top of the table side.
“Very proud of my young side,” Torney said.
“We spoke during the week about how important this part of the season is for us and I thought we really stuck together, we pegged them back after a bad start.
“They got off to a flyer, I’ve never seen Neil (Barfuss) bat before but he hits the ball as hard as anyone I’ve ever played against, he was terrific.
“Full credit to Ben Miller, he changed the game towards the end of their innings, we just ringed things up and he bowled to the field beautifully.
“Benny (Maroney) was fantastic, he’s a superstar and really got us going with the bat, it was just a good team effort.”
Cooper didn’t enjoy the result but said it was a good game of cricket to be a part of.
“Yeah, it was a good standard, they played really well but we probably lost it with our batting, we didn’t push hard enough with the running between wickets, they did that better than us,” Cooper said.
“We definitely didn’t underestimate them… they’ve got some really good players.
“It did feel a bit like a final, a good crowd turned up, you could hear them towards the end, it was a good atmosphere to play in.
“We look forward to the challenge of next week now, the two-day game is different to the one-dayers so we need to rectify a few things and try and stay on top.”
Torney had the last word on next week’s clash.
“We think we can match it with anyone, they better bring their game next week,” he said.
The two teams clash again this week as the reverse draw kicks in at the half way point of the season.
