The Box Hill Hawks fell to a strong Williamstown outfit  in a tough and tight match at a sunny Avalon Airport Oval on Sunday, 14.14.98 to 26.13.109.

Box Hill started strongly having much of the early possession with Riley Milne slotting through the first major of the game. The Hawks had very fluent movement from half back to half forward in the early part of the term and were playing-on and running out of defense with ease.

Box Hill had a lot of the possession early but was unable to put any scoreboard pressure on the Seagulls. Williamstown took a while to get started but worked themselves back into the game in the second part of the quarter.

The Hawks finished the quarter off well with Luke Breust and Riley Milne kicking goals directly from Williamstown turnovers at the 26 and 29-minute mark respectively.

The game was even throughout the second quarter with Brendan Whitecross, David Mirra and Ryan Jackson particularly prominent for the Hawks.

The Hawks found their run again late in the term with a handful of goals seeing them into half time with a 20 point lead.

Two different sides came out in the third term; Box Hill had lost all their run which had given them the edge in the first half while Williamstown kicked four unanswered goals in the first 15 minutes.

Box Hill had trouble getting out of their defensive half of the ground while Williamstown used the ball well and were dominant in their clearances, inside 50s and hardball gets.

When Box Hill did gain possession, they were struggling to hit targets inside their forward 50. In contrast, Williamstown had numerous targets inside their forward 50 in Minson, Hahn, Jones and Veszpremi who all kicked goals in the third term.

Things got worse for Box Hill as the Seagulls kicked another four goals in the second part of the term, including three goals in three minutes.

At the three quarter time break Box Hill Coach Damian Carroll encouraged his defenders to run and carry, wanting them to take the game on as they did in the first half.

Carroll’s players responded to his instructions kicking the first two goals of the final term.

Box Hill worked very hard to get themselves back into the game in the last quarter, but three final term goals to Jordan Lisle wasn’t enough to get the Hawks over the line.

While Williamstown walked away with the win, the Hawks still managed to outscore the Seagulls 6.5 to 4.3 in the last quarter.

Next Sunday sees Box Hill take on Coburg in the traditional ANZAC Cup clash at Box Hill City Oval.

Box Hill: 3.3/7.8/8.9/14.14.98

Williamstown: 2.6/4.6/12.10/16.13.109

Best: Kiel, Lisle, Milne, Cheney, Whitecross, Mirra.

Goals: Milne 4, Lisle 4, Breust 2, Hoegel, Whitecross, Duryea, Cust.