3 minute read

A five-goal haul by Mabior Chol has secured Gold Coast a vital three point win over a fast-finishing West Coast at Metricon Stadium.

A career-best five-goal haul by Gold Coast recruit Mabior Chol in his 50th AFL match has kept the Suns' slim finals hope alive with a three point win over West Coast.

A sealer by Mal Rosas Jnr with 15 seconds to play secured a 16.11 (107) to 16.8 (104) win after West Coast had stormed into contention at Metricon Stadium with a seven-goal final quarter.

Chol's handful of goals was well supported by busy forward Izak Rankine's three majors, while Rosas and Jeremy Sharp kicked two each.

Jack Darling kicked an equal career-best six goals for the Eagles, while Jack Petruccelle ended with three and Liam Ryan and Jack Redden two apiece.

Suns co-captain Touk Miller was again the best performer for the hosts with 31 disposals, 16 clearances and 10 tackles as the Eagles came from a 31-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to nearly snatch the win.

Gold Coast's ninth victory of the season keeps them in the hunt for a maiden finals berth, although they would need to win all three of their remaining matches and hope other results fall their way to have any chance.

"There's disappointment it got so close but we also understand winning is hard and particularly against strong footy clubs," Suns coach Stuart Dew said.

"We came here to win and we won, but we can take a fair bit out of that because that could have gone either way.

"After the lead you have, if it went too far the other way that would have been a disaster for us.

"It wasn't and we can look forward to next week."

Defeat came with injury for the Eagles as well with rookie Jai Culley and Petruccelle picking up hamstring strains.

Culley is also likely to find himself in the crosshairs of the Match Review Officer after catching Suns midfielder Noah Anderson with an elbow in the second quarter.

The narrow loss means West Coast head into next weekend's clash with Adelaide at Optus Stadium locked in a race to avoid the wooden spoon with North Melbourne.

"The last quarter was just on," Eagles coach Adam Simpson said.

"The boys were taking risks and sometimes they were paying off and sometimes they weren't.

"To go down like that is disappointing but we'll grow from it.

"We're not wasting this half of the season. We want to keep exposing our players to situations but we just aren't getting rewarded at the moment."