Sharks beat Redlegs in wet Foxtel Cup clashTuesday, May 21, 2013 - 4:00 PM - by Chris Pike

RYAN Lester-Smith has been East Fremantle's surprise packet up forward all season in the WAFL to date and he stepped up when it mattered on Tuesday night to kick the winning goal in the Sharks' seven-point Foxtel Cup victory against Norwood at AAMI Stadium.

In driving rain and on a slippery surface in Adelaide, goals became increasingly hard to come by as the game went on but it was East Fremantle who kicked the only two of the second half, to Adrian Ricciardello in the third quarter, and Lester-Smith in the last to secure the hard fought 6.6 (42) to 4.11 (35) win.

Both sides were well below full strength with reigning SANFL premiers Norwood coming off a 25-point win over South Adelaide on Saturday night while last year's WAFL grand finalists East Fremantle lost to Claremont by 42 points on Saturday before flying to Adelaide on Monday.

Michael Newton, Mat Suckling, Matt Thomas, captain Kieran McGuinness and Ben Warren were among the players that didn’t line up for Norwood but East Fremantle was missing some key players as well including Josh Simpson, Brad Cooper, Bradd Dalziell, Mitch Brown, Jayden Schofield, Brett Peake and Steven Dodd.

That meant that both teams blooded plenty of young talent with East Fremantle giving the chance to Tom Hooker, Sam Read, Ricciardello, Louis Cronan, Godfrey Curley and Kurt Tropiano who had not been regularly featuring in the Sharks' league side.

It was a tough and tight affair all evening but it was the home side who adjusted to the conditions the quickest in the opening quarter with five scoring shots to one, and three goals to one to lead by 14 points at the first change.

The rain laid off for the majority of the second quarter and as a result both sides were able to use the ball better, and hit the scoreboard.

It was East Fremantle who made the most of the better conditions, though, with two goals to small forward Mitch Boyle and another to debutant Louis Cronan but the Redlegs led at half-time still by three points with a goal heading into the break from Mark Evans.

The rain was well and truly back for the second half and the game became even more of a slog in the difficult conditions.

It took until only minutes before three quarter-time, but eventually East Fremantle got the only goal of the term through Ricciardello to hold a five-point three quarter-time advantage.

Norwood then dominated virtually all of the final quarter peppering the ball inside-50 but the Redlegs could manage just the five behinds.

Eventually the Sharks made a break, got the ball forward and Lester-Smith received a free-kick inside-50.

He went back and coolly kicked what eventuated to be the winning goal of the game to see East Fremantle advance to the semi-finals to face the winner of next week's Foxtel Cup battle between Werribee and Queanbeyan at Etihad Stadium, and knock Norwood out of the competition.

With East Fremantle currently without Brock O'Brien, Jack Perham, Rob Young, Max Duffy and Brad Dick from the forward-line that helped the Sharks to a grand final last year, Lester-Smith has proven the find of the season when given a role deep in attack.

He has kicked 20 goals in his eight games this season and now has the confidence out of kicking the winning goal in a Foxtel Cup clash in Adelaide in front of a national prime time audience on TV.

State midfielder from two weeks ago in WA's win over Victoria in Northam Rory O'Brien continued his outstanding form for the Sharks finishing with 22 possessions, seven clearances and a massive 15 tackles.

Captain Mark McGough picked up 16 possessions to go with eight clearances and both O'Brien and McGough, and fellow veteran Richard Hadley dominated the clearance battle thanks to the prominence of ruckman Cameron Symonds in the hit-out department.

The highlight of the night for Norwood was the performance of 16-year-old Peter Bampton.

The bustling and hard-running teenage midfielder had just one kick which was a terrific running goal from 50 in the wet, but he racked up 18 handballs and eight clearances in an impressive performance.

Norwood defender Matt Fuller picked up 19 possessions as another strong performer for the Redlegs.

EAST FREMANTLE                          ? 1.0        ? 4.1        ? 5.5        ? 6.6        ? (42)

NORWOOD                                      ? 3.2        ? 4.4        ? 4.6        ? 4.11      ? (35)

EAST FREMANTLE – Goals: Boyle 2; Henson, Cronan, Ricciardello, Lester-Smith.

Best: O'Brien, McGough, Hadley, Boyle, Symonds, Henson, Stephen.

NORWOOD – Goals: M Evans 2; Bampton, Donohue.

Best: Bampton, Fuller, Pfeiffer, Murphy, Smart, Dumont.