OAMPS Blades Through To AHL Final

The OAMPS Queensland Blades have moved one step closer to creating AHL history after defeating the MIA Tassie Tigers to progress to the AHL grand final.

The Blades are now poised to become the first team in men's AHL history to win three championships in a row, needing only one more win to secure the prestigious honour.

While the Blades eventually came away solid winners, there were ominous signs in the first half when neither team really settled or showed any of the excitement produced by both teams during their last match on Thursday night.

Eventually after several minutes the teams began to mount some genuine forward movements with the Blades looking certain to score via Jamie Dwyer mid way through the first half.

However his seemingly open shot on goal was saved by Tasmanian defender David Donnelly who showed no hesitation to put his body on the line to stop the goal.

After an eventless first half both teams appeared much more switched on at the beginning of the second half, particularly the Blades who were keen to seek revenge on the Tigers who blemished their undefeated record at the tournament in their previous encounter.

Eventually the Blades hard work paid off, opening their scoring accounts via a Jason Wilson field goal at the 46th minute.

The goal came via a long midfield pass which was misread by the Tasmanian defender which left Wilson one on one with the Tigers goalkeeper.

The Tigers hardly had time to regain their composure before the Blades scored their second goal of the match, literally seconds later thanks to Kookaburra regular Nathan Eglington.

Eglington again caused headaches for the Tigers defenders when he hit the ball hard and low towards the Blades goal. The ball was originally deflected by the keeper but had enough speed to continue traveling towards goals to give the Blades a commanding lead.

The Tigers eventually hit back with a late goal in the 64th minute to Nick Tremayne but it was a case of too little too late was the Blades will now face the winner of tonight's Victorian Vikings v SmokeFree WA Thundersticks match in tomorrow nights grand final.