It was a special day being Pride match, with parents, friends, families and partners all involved in the celebration forming the guard of honour.

Chloe McMillian is proud to be part of a club that supports pride round.

“As a club we are able to support it and recognise the importance of the LGBTI+ community in sport”, McMillian said.

“We are proud to be a club that supports anymore no matter who you are or how you identify”, McMillian said.

While Monique DeMatteo got a goal in the first 25 seconds, the first half was not played how the team wanted to.

The conditions in the day did not help, with the wet weather severely affecting the game.

“It was a tough day for footy. We didn’t handle the conditions well enough, and the Bulldogs were a lot cleaner around the ball”, McMillian said.

“We overused the ball and didn’t execute the basics well enough”, McMillian said.

After being down at half time and three-quarter time, the Pies managed to come back and win by ten points.

“I’m proud of how the girls fought it out and managed to win ugly. In key moments, players stood tall and were able to stay composed right until the end which is pleasing to back up from last week after being in a similar position”, McMillian said.

Monique DeMatteo was influential in the forward line and scored two goals for the day, earning herself the player of the match.

“Mon competed well all day. She worked really high up the ground and then was able to capitalise at the goals and finish off her hard work”, McMillian said.

Collingwood are still sitting sixth on the ladder and have two more matches left before finals.

Round 13 will be against Port Melbourne this Saturday 21 May 3.35pm at ETU Stadium.

Collingwood 5.6 (36)

Geelong: 4.2 (26)

Goals

Collingwood: DeMatteo 2, Newman, Skepper, Van Der Vlies

Western Bulldogs: Chadwick, Marks, Meier, Webster

Best

Collingwood: DeMatteo,  Hallett, Zander, Skepper, Kane, Lin