DANDENONG Stingrays followed up last week’s win with poor effort against North Ballarat Rebels, going down by 10 points on Sunday.

The round 10 TAC Cup clash was played in cold and windy conditions at North Ballarat Oval.

The Stingrays started slowly and were quickly behind the eight ball as the Rebels played hard and smart football to take a three-goals-to-nil lead by the ten-minute mark of the first term.

The slow start cost the Stingrays dearly.

Three late goals to Gabriel, Collins and Parker narrowed the gap to eight points at quarter time, but the Rebels should have been much further in front.

The Stingrays were led to the ball too often and when they did get possession, tried to hit short targets that was unsuccessful in the windy conditions.

The second term was a dour struggle with both teams rebounding from half-back and only three goals were kicked for the term.

The move of Billy Hayes into the forward line gave the Stingrays a target deep in the front half as Russell Gabriel worked hard across half-forward.

A solitary goal and three behinds for the term was all the Stingrays could manage and went into the long break trailing by 13 points.

Ricky Ferraro was busy in the midfield with Matthew Clark.

Lee Boyle started to get on top of Rebels’ key player Ryan Hobbs at centre half-back and first-gamer Jack Cole played with poise and energy on the wing.

Seventeen-year-olds Ferraro, Clark, Hayes and Cole as they played with passion, desire and heart, unlike their older counterparts.

The third term had the Stingrays working overtime and they managed to kick two goals and five behinds, while keeping the Rebels to one goal to close the gap to four points at the last change.

Both coaches asked their players for a sustained effort in the last term to get the points, but it was the Rebels who took the points in a mistake-ridden, lacklustre game that did not feature many team or individual highlights.

This week the Stingrays have a home game at Shepley Oval, Dandenong against the Bendigo Pioneers at 12.30pm on Sunday.

The Stingrays will get back a couple of players from injury and school football commitments end for a couple of weeks and those players will become available for selection.

Scores: Stingrays 8.12.60 lost to Ballarat Rebels 10.10.70.

Goals – Stingrays: Ricky Ferraro 2, Billy Hayes 2, Russell Gabriel, Daniel O’Sughrue, Mitch Collins, Michael Parker.

Best – Stingrays: Matthew Clark, Ricky Ferraro, Billy Hayes, Jack Cole, Lee Boyle, Russell Gabriel.