ECHUCA United pitted themselves against top quality opposition when they rolled into Rochester on Saturday.
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And while the result did not go the way of the Eagles, coach Guy Campbell said he was pleased with his charges.
He admitted there was a gulf in class between the Goulburn Valley League side and his own Murray Football League squad.
But his players gave their all and were in with a shout for large portions of the contest.
The match was United’s final pre-season hit out before their MFL season begins on April 6 against Deniliquin away from home.
‘‘I thought it went really well, it was a good contest, the scoreboard suggested otherwise but with both (pre-season) games now we haven’t rated our performance on what the end score was,’’ Campbell explained.
‘‘It’s about the process in working together to meet our expectations on game plans and styles. We’ve done that for sure.’’
With a handful of first team players away, Campbell handed invaluable senior experience to promising reserves players. He said those who made the step up gave it their all, which is all he could ask for.
‘‘It was great to give blokes a chance that may not have otherwise,’’ he said. ‘‘The ones who stepped up had a great go, they really had a crack. If they ask now to go back to the reserves they can take a lot of confidence going back to the twos.’’
Campbell heaped praise on the opponents, saying their build-up play was far superior to United’s.
‘‘We certainly surprised them, we dominated our ruck, Jordan (Florance) suffered a corkie and he came off for the second half,’’ he said.
‘‘Things changed a bit in the second bit.
‘‘They built momentum whereas we were just trying to maintain.’’
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