Cottesloe remain a long shot for the finals after defeating Perth-Bayswater 34-14 in a niggly, penalty-ridden Home Building Society competition match at Morley Reserve today.
Cottesloe dominated territory and possession for all but the first twenty minutes of the game and ten minutes after the break, and created more scoring opportunities than a lacklustre Perth-Bayswater. The score could have been higher had not Seagulls fullback David Cloete missed five early goal kicks.
Cottesloe led 8-3 in an ordinary first half as first Perth-Bayswater and then Cottesloe dominated territory but failed to capitalise.
Perth-Bayswater pinned Cottesloe inside its half for ten minutes and was hard on attack 15 minutes in when inside centre Darcy Bowden intercepted a loose pass, running and kicking toward Perth's line. Perth conceded a penalty, and Cloete converted the sitter.
Perth went back on the offensive and five minutes later won a penalty for offside, after being held up over the line, lock Jock Stanley converted and it was 3-3 after 20 minutes.
But Perth was back on the defensive in minutes and after a poor Perth drop out, Cott spun the ball wide and Cloete ran 20 metres down the far touch line to score.
The Seagulls stayed on attack, helped by Perth errors, and dominated the later stages of the half, but Cloete missed a long distance penalty kick for hands in the ruck, and another for the same offence minutes later as the ruck area proved contentious.
Cott lineout errors let Perth off the hook briefly but Cott stayed on attack, Cloete missing another two penalties in the dying minutes as tempers frayed.
The niggle continued as the second half opened and Perth went onto attack, two massive scrums leaving the Seagulls pack in disarray. The home side turned over possession in Cott's 22 but the Seagulls fumbled the clearing kick and Perth blindside flanker Eugene Maxwell scooped up the ball and scored near the posts. The conversion failed and the game was all square at 8-8.
From the restart Cott rushed the Perth line and after two phases flyhalf Steve Harding cut through weak defence on the blind to score. Cloete converted from a moderate angle and Cott led 15-8 after 12 minutes.
Perth lock Jock Stanley replied with a penalty kick for hands in the ruck 15 minutes in, but Cott continued to dominate territory. Cloete knocked over a penalty for offside two minutes later and another for coming around the ruck after 25 minutes, as Cottesloe went ahead 21-11.
A penalty put Perth back on attack and another following another massive scrum gave Stanley a simple goal kick from in front as Perth struggled to catch up at 21-14.
But normal service resumed immediately in a penalty studded game, as Cloete kicked another goal with ten minutes to play. Then Cott's pack had its revenge with a tighthead in the last five minutes, but passed the ball forward with a two man overlap.
Cloete kept the scoreboard ticking over with another penalty, then centre Davy Kurton kicked an up and under, the Perth defender tripped and Kurton regathered and scored under the bar. Cloete converted the sitter for a runaway 34-14 score, and the match finished minutes later.
Cottesloe coach Pat Byron was happy with his forwards following the win over Perth-Bayswater's combative pack.
"This is probably the best game the forwards have had in quite a while, and we're happy with that," he said.
"The most important thing today was that we did some things when we had the ball, and we could put some pressure on them.
"We didn't get the four tries but we did get ourselves into position to kick penalty goals.
"Dave Cloete is one of the most accurate goal kickers in the competition. He missed a few but then he came good. He's a fantastic goal kicker."
Byron conceded the finals might be out of range for the Seagulls this year.
"Probably a bit too little too late this year unfortunately," Byron said.
"We'll have to be lucky, we'll have to rely on Wests losing which I can't see them doing.
"All we have to do now is try and finish as high on the table as we can and build a platform for next year."
Byron said that injuries and poor finishing had cost his team during the season.
"Our depth has really been tested at times.
"It's a case of what might have been. We lost maybe four or five games after having a lead, and let them go in the last ten minutes. We dropped some games we should have won and it's going to hurt us," Byron said.
The win lifts the Seagulls to fifth on the table but their finals hopes rest on Wests-Subiaco losing two of the remaining games against Kalamunda, Perth-Bayswater or Rockingham in the next three weeks of the competition, while the Seagulls must win all three games against University, Palmyra and Wanneroo, with a couple of bonus points thrown in.
Perth-Bayswater, which had improved damatically after an ordinary start to the season, have much to aim for in 2007 but little left to play for this year other than pride.
At Allen Park, third-placed Associates defeated second-placed Palmyra 33-28 after leading 20-14 at half time. Associates had players returning from injury and goal kicking prop Damien Elton enjoyed a good day with the boot.
"We're only a couple of players short of the best fifteen," Associates co-coach Andy Cole said.
"Even though we lost last week against Nedlands, we took a couple of steps forward and put in the hard work, and we did that again today. It was a good performance."
Cole praised the Palmyra flyhalf James Stannard, who gave his team opportunities with precise tactical kicking.
"But we counter attacked well and our midfield played well," Cole said.
'We had players back from tours and injuries and it's come at the right time of the season."
"We're a young team and the more these young guys play together and gather experience, the better they become."
"The boys did well," Cole said.
In other games, Wests-Subiaco got home against University 19-11 at McGilivray Oval, competition leader Nedlands thrashed Wanneroo 77-21 at Kingsway and Rockingham downed Kalamunda 23-15 at Hartfield.