Cats and Hawks inseparable in see-sawing round 10 battle

The second period belonged to the visitor, who piled on a five-goal flurry to not just take the lead, but establish a 12-point advantage at the major break.

However, LBU continued its trend of taking the foot off the gas in the third term, being unable to kick a goal and settling for a quartet of behinds.

This left the door ajar for Huntly which not only got its foot in, but walked straight through by kicking 3.3 and brining the contest back in its favour.

With the Cats’ deficit sitting at one goal entering the final frame, the visitor responded strongly down the stretch.

Not only did LBU’s defence hold the Hawks to 2.2, but its attack got on the board throughout the fourth quarter.

With time almost up, LBU’s ruckman Tyler Phillips took a clutch mark to either draw level or win the game for the Cats after the final siren.

Unfortunately, Phillips wasn’t able to slot the winner, but was able to get one final minor on the board for his side and prevent it from losing a tight contest with a top-two team.

For LBU coach Jayden Howe, those last gasp heroics were more than enough.

“I’m not fussed that ‘T-Bone’ (Phillips) didn’t kick that goal, we had 10 points for the day and if any of those had’ve been goals we would’ve won,” he said.

“If he (Phillips) didn’t take that mark before the siren we would’ve lost by a point, so you can’t win without opportunity and he gave us that opportunity, so we will take the draw.

“We were pleased with the result and thought that our structures held up really well, particularly against a team higher on the ladder.

“To match it with a team that sits near the top and have won four games in a row, I thought was a great result for us.”

Howe highlighted some of LBU’s major contributors in the contest and reflected on his side’s current standing as the back half of the season progresses.

“Bart Phillips and Jeremy Mundie linked up well, especially in the second quarter, they both had a great game and gave Bart four goals which put us in the lead at half-time.’’ he said.

“Matt Hore played a great game at key back and Bowden Stone, a young kid played well in the middle.

“We are sitting in sixth place on the ladder in a positive position and we’ve got some key players coming back over the next few weeks, so we are excited about the back end of the season and games like that show we have the talent and structure to match it with those top teams.

“We finished second last on the ladder last season and this year we have a team with less experience and we are still matching it with these top teams, so we are taking that as a huge positive.”

The Cats will look to take it to another heavyweight in round 11, when they travel to Toolleen Recreation Reserve to face Mt Pleasant.