The game at Moama Recreation Reserve saw the Magpies eventually pull away from their opposition, although the scoreline belies what was a scrappy and well fought encounter, with Moama eventually taking the game 9.13 (67) to 3.6 (24).
The story of the game was the strong defences of both sides.
Moama had the best of possession and field position, but was consistently unable to secure clean ball inside 50 and found scoring difficult all afternoon.
At the other end, Tongala made the occasional raid into the Magpies’ backline, but was also unable to convert many of its chances, leading to both sides recording a high number of behinds relative to their goals.
Moama looked set to overwhelm Tonny early when it had almost all of the ball in the first 10 minutes, putting 15 points on the board before the Blues troubled the scorers and entering the first break ahead 21-2.
Tongala kicked its first goal early in the second and managed to hold the Magpies goalless in the term, rousing hope of a potential fightback.
The sides fought back and forth in the third period but Moama eventually proved the more focused, taking advantage of a couple of good spells to lead 7.11 (53) to 3.4 (22) heading into the last.
With the game mostly decided, the Magpies improved the margin with a pair of goals in the dying minutes.
“A little bit disappointing, obviously, in front of goal,” Moama co-coach Jye Warren said.
“We probably didn’t capitalise on opportunities inside forward 50, missing goals, you know, between 30 to 40 out, so we’ll definitely go back to the drawing board this week and probably work on a bit of goal kicking.
“We normally do that at the end of most trainings, but we sort of laid off it a little bit at training, so I think we need to go back to normal and have a fair few shots in front of the goal this week.”
Warren praised his opposition for keeping the pressure on and making things tough for his side, but credited his teammates’ composure for fighting on and taking control of the game.
The team’s defence was key, and Warren highlighted some key defenders who restricted Tongala to just 24 points for the game.
“It was good to have Jack and Tom Sheldon and Zack Stovell back down in defence for us,” he said.
“They're really experienced players and really tall and work the ball pretty well.
“Our pressure was unbelievable today. It’s probably the best pressure we’ve done all year, so I was really happy with the defence.”
Blues coach Billy Barnes, who also participated on-field for the first time this season, was complimentary of Moama, and pleased his side was able to remain in the contest.
“All credit to Moama,” he said.
“Obviously they’re a really good side and they’ll go deep into the pointy end of the season as well, but we just need to look at what didn’t work in the game and make sure that we address it through the week.
“The mindset for us doesn’t change. The focus still stays on us and what we could do as a group.
“I feel like through the midfield the boys played pretty well and we got some ascendancy through the middle there.
“It was just when we were moving forward through the forward half of the ground, we didn’t use it the way that we wanted to, and I think we need to rectify that through the week and make sure that we come back next time.”
Barnes was also upbeat about his side’s defence, identifying it as a focus area for the team.
“We base our football off being a defence-first side, so as long as we’re still in it and we’re still doing all the defensive fundamentals,” he said.
“That’s probably something that we lacked in (the past) which we want to try and pride ourselves on, that kind of game style.
“We’ll go back and make sure that we train it through the week and bounce back against Rumbalara next week, make sure we address the intent to tackle, the intent to spoil (and) when the ball hits the ground. How do we then make sure that we mop it up and take it forward in a productive way?”
With the loss, Tongala now finds itself in a pack of six teams with a 3-2 record, with a match-up with 1-4 Rumbalara on Saturday an opportunity to break away from that group in a positive direction.
Brett Deledio is set to suit up for his second game of the season, with brother Matt to pull on the colours for the first time after missing the Numurkah game with injury.
Moama is solidified in second spot on the table as it improves to 4-1.
The Magpies travel to Barooga in round six where they will be heavy favourites against the winless Hawks.
The Game
Scores
Moama: 3.3, 3.7, 7.11, 9.13 (67)
Tongala: 0.2, 1.3, 3.4, 3.6 (24)
Goals
Moama: Trent Gray 3, Danny Brewster 2, Thomas Holman, Mitchell Lake, Jack Russell, Jye Warren
Tongala: James Ross, Jordan Souter, Alex Williams
Best
Moama: Dougal McKindlay, Thomas Holman, Jack Russell, Tom Sheldon, Josh Kennedy, Jordan Mcgregor
Tongala: Kyle Fitzgerald, Matthew Caia, Mitchell Gugliotti, James Ross, Jordan Souter, Sam Cipriani
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