A FEW missed goals at crucial times of the match saw the Griffith Swans go down to Coolamon on Saturday.
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Swans coach Brandon Mathews said it was a close contest all day.
“It was pretty tight all game,” Mathews said.
Coolamon came out to have a one goal lead at quarter time, but the Swans picked up a handy seven point lead at half-time.
“The effort was good. We did a lot of things right. It just came down to missing some easy chances.”
At half-time Mathews told his players to stick to the game plan to try and hold onto the lead.
“I told them to keep doing what we were doing and we probably did that to a degree but missed a couple of crucial shots at goal,” Mathews said.
The loss of ruckman Mick Duncan for most of the game didn’t help, Mathews said.
He went off in the second quarter with a hamstring injury and didn’t return until late in the match.
“He’s 210 centimetres so he’s pretty hard to replace,” Mathews said.
Mathews said he believed Duncan may be out for at least a game with the injury.
“I’d be really surprised (if he plays next week),” Mathews said.
“We’ll see what happens.”
Player of the match for the Swans was James Toscan, who played his 100th game for the club.
“It was a shame we couldn’t get the win but it’s good he played well,” Mathews said.
He said Toscan was one of the club’s key players and he hoped he would have a long career with the Swans.
“I think he would have been pretty happy, he left it all out there,” Mathews said.
Other key contributors on Saturday included Guy Orton, Tim Mathieson, James Taylor and Richard Malone.
The Swans will take on Mangoplah-Cue next weekend and Mathews is expecting a tough match.