Giles has been an ever-present for the Bulls this season and his energising forward running has been key to Freeman’s attacking masterplan.
‘He’s crucial because Jay’s a very good defender, first and foremost, as a full back,’ said Freeman. ‘But he’s also got real quality on the ball which you saw with those two crosses he put in at the start of the second half. He put real pace on them that made the forwards’ job easy. I felt at the start of the season he was the right sort of character and right age for us. He’s been a great example to have around the place.’
It was successful night for the Bulls on and off the pitch considering kick-off was delayed by three hours 40 minutes thanks to the fog at the Airport. With the game played under the lights, there was a more jaunty atmosphere at Springfield that the players seemed to revel in. ‘The crowd was quite lively,’ continued Freeman. ‘I’m not sure if that was because of the late kick-off and if some of them had spent some time in the bar! There was some good singing going on and it was nice to play under the lights with a bit of noise.’
Despite giving it a go early on in the match, Hayes’s gamble in trying to press higher up the pitch eventually backfired. Bulls were able to exploit the large spaces behind their defence and Freeman was particularly pleased with the nature of the goals his team scored. ‘They played quite high which allowed us to make runs in from behind,’ said Freeman. ‘In the second half we came out flying and again, goals from wide areas that we have spent some time working on and it was great to see a couple of goals scored in the six yard box.’
Match report in Monday’s JEP.
