Illaroo making their mark, Heads ascend in round 16 of the Blackmore-Bolden Shield

Last weekend was an opportunity for teams to firmly cement themselves in a finals position, which several sides managed to do.

One thing is for certain, it is shaping up to be an exciting end to Shoalhaven football.

The Illaroo Kangaroos are in the midst of one of their best seasons in the past several years.

The Roos currently sit in third place after dismantling the Shoalhaven Bears last Saturday, 6-1 at Sharman Park.

The Shoalhaven United Bears and Illaroo Kangaroos fought to a close 1-1 draw in round seven this year, and you could see from the body language of Illaroo that they were not going to let that happen again.

United had the better of possession and chances early, but were unable to convert on anything meaningful. Illaroo got their first opportunity of the day when a ball was slipped through, leaving Hayden Strand one-on-one with the keeper.

Strand made no mistake, continuing his run of fine play, giving his side the 1-0 lead.

This appeared to help Illaroo out of their slumber, with Evan Leedham soon breaking through to make it 2-0, before Sam Swan scored just before the halftime whistle to make it three on the trot for the Kangaroos.

Coming out of the half, Illaroo continued to keep their foot firmly on the pedal, with Alex Cheyne soon scoring to make it 4-0. United did bounce back, if only for a second, with the always steady Billy Wallington securing a breakthrough to stop the drought for the Bears.

But the Kangaroos would continue to run away with the game until the final whistle. Leedham and Strand again both put another on the board, rounding out the win.

Reflecting on the win, Illaroo's Jarvis Strand spoke highly of United's play and said the final result wasn't reflective of the effort the side showed.

"They (United) did have some really nice passages of football and they shouldn't be too concerned about that result," he said.

"They're certainly building for the future and will be competitive before too long."

Strand said it was a "must-win" victory for the side, especially with the second-place St Georges Basin coming up this weekend.

"We knew from last game that we had to take our chances early and put a few away before halftime. It was a game that we were ready for and we set out with nothing but three points as an option."

The Seahawks and Tigers battled to a tough 1-1 draw at Bomaderry Oval on Saturday.

With it being a tough season for both sides this year, it was a game that each side wanted to grab.

It was a game of runs, with Sussex Inlet coming out of the gates hot, before Bomaderry took control of the majority of possession leading up to the halftime break which was knotted at nil-all.

The Seahawks again came out of the break looking strong, and being the first to strike when Calum Mitchell broke through for his first goal of the season, giving his team the 1-nil advantage.

However, just like in the first half of play the Seahawks ran out of steam and the Tigers were ready to pounce.

They did just that only a few minutes later when they built their own tremendous sequence which created an opening for Jayden Harrison to find the back of the net and tie the game up at 1-1.

There were a few more opportunities, but the score would remain the same until the final whistle.

Reflecting on the match, Sussex Inlet's Ben Whipp said it felt like one that got away from the young side.

READ MORE:

"After a really encouraging performance against Huskisson last week, I was really looking forward to the boys putting in another good performance but it wasn't meant to be," he said.

"It was a really inconsistent performance from us, we just didn't turn up on the day hungry enough."

Despite what the record might say, the growth of the young Seahawks side has been undeniable and Whipp said he's very proud of what the group has achieved.

"We have ended up here (first grade) a year earlier than we wanted but I couldn't be prouder of the young fellas in their first year of senior football."

"We haven't sat back and tried to park the bus, they wanted to keep trying to play football and compete."

The Sussex Inlet Seahawks will battle the Culburra Cougars in the 'Chook Bain Cup' this weekend, while Bomaderry will try to hand Milton-Ulladulla their first loss.

The Dragons are roaring into the end of the season in electric from, tacking on another win, this time 6-0 over the Culburra Cougars.

The Cougars were competitive to start but the constant attack from Basin proved too much as they went on a scoring rampage.

The first to attack was Rory Meyer 11 minutes in who slipped the ball to the back of the net off a nice attack.

It was more of the same in the second half, with Brendan Apperley and Mitchell Chugg recording a double performance, while Kingsley Smith recorded a single.

This has cemented the Dragons into second place but will have a strong challenge going up against the third place Illaroo Kangaroos who are breathing down their necks.

Reflecting on their win, Dragons head coach James Gallemore said the team is still trying to get to another level as the regular season begins to wrap up.

"It's really pleasing to see from all aspects of our group. The players have a good feeling about our playing style and the last few weeks have been about adding the finishing touches to our brand of football," he said.

"We have set our own target to play in a consistent way no matter who the opponent is. Everybody has individual and collective responsibility within the team."

"Following our way of playing. We have worked hard during the season to address our perceived flaws."

"Our key was to unlocking our finishing. We have not quite perfected that but we are creating opportunities that are leading to better conversion rates."

Gallemore praised the individual efforts on Saturday of young Rory Meyer who continues to come into his own this season.

"Rory Meyer has been excellent in the second half of the season. For a young man he has bags of confidence and has added so much to his game this season," he said.

"Defensively, he works hard to win the ball back. In attack he is looking to advance into the danger areas, running at players and turning defences."

"This is not to take away from any of my players who have been excellent in recent weeks."

Saturday at Huskisson Sporting Field proved to be the perfect location for a tough clash between the undefeated Milton-Ulladulla Panthers and the Huskisson-Vincentia Seagulls.

In the back and forth affair, the Seagulls almost did what no other team had done the season and add a loss to the Panthers column, but it wasn't to be as the Panthers escaped with the 1-0 victory.

The Panthers had the better of the chances early in the match, and would break through for the first and only goal of the match 25 minutes in.

Brent Anderson skillfully created space to unleash a low driven effort on the turn which escaped the diving effort of Chris Tweed in goal.

In the second half Huskisson looked much more control and ended up creating the better chances of the two sides, almost tying the match up through a free kick that was valiantly thwarted by the Panthers defence.

Reflecting on the narrow win, Panthers coach Nick Palagyi said it wasn't the team's best effort but said he remained proud of their composure on the field.

"The boys fought hard to secure the win under some strange circumstances at times, but they all kept their cool and saw the match out together," he said.

He further highlighted the strong play of Anderson and Antonio Lavelle in the midfield, while also applauding the tremendous effort from goalkeeper Kevin Castle.

"He's always been a great character within the group, and an excellent shot stopper, but his handling aerial work and distribution have improved immensely over the last couple of years."

Milton-Ulladulla will look to make it 15 in-a-row this weekend against Bomaderry, while Huskisson have now dropped to fifth and will need to rebound in a crucial match with Berry-Shoalhaven Heads who hold down fourth.