A LONG, hot summer on the track awaits a Cobden side ruing a season of missed opportunities.
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Inaccuracy cost the Bombers a win – and potentially a Hampden league finals berth – against premiership fancy Warrnambool on Saturday.
A Lincoln Dare goal on the siren provided the competition with its first and only draw of the 2016 home and away season.
Confusion reigned – for spectators at least – as the scoreboard pointed to a Warrnambool win before umpires had it corrected.
Outgoing co-coach Wayne Robertson spoke to the Bombers on the field, with the 7.19 (61) to 9.7 (61) scoreboard the backdrop to his final speech as leader.
Cobden finished two points outside the top five, having conceded a 41-point half-time lead against top-placed North Warrnambool Eagles in the penultimate round and putting in a wasteful performance in front of goal a week later.
Robertson said they were important lessons for a young outfit with grand ambitions.
“It also shows the good potential,” he said.
“Against the side that finished on top of the ladder, we were 42 points up at half-time and against a side that’s finished third, we’ve had 10 more scoring shots.
“It is exciting times ahead for the club. Last year we got beat by 100 points or more on six occasions and this year we’ve only had 100 points kicked against us twice.
“We’ve come a draw today and lost six games by under four goals.”
Robertson said poor goalkicking was the Bombers’ bugbear.
“It’s been a concern for a while and, as a club, we’re going to invest in some nets as resources because we think that might be an issue,” he said.
“We had 26 scoring shots to 16 and we came a draw, so we only have ourselves to blame.”
Warrnambool took a 16-point lead into half-time courtesy of a five-goal first half from Jason Rowan.
But the Blues were held goalless in the third term as the Bombers gained the ascendancy and grabbed a nine-point advantage at the final change.
Blues coach John Cook lamented his side’s ball use.
“It was always going to be a huge challenge to come down here and be competitive against a Cobden team that had so much to play for,” he said.
“They definitely showed a fair bit of leg speed towards the end of the game.”