Echuca’s Steph Vick and Mooroopna’s Rhani Henry go up for a contested ball during a defence-led draw at Echuca South. Photos: Jordan Townrow
Echuca played out a thrilling draw with Mooroopna to conclude its Goulburn Valley League netball regular season, falling outside the competition’s top two on the final day.
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With Euroa a lock to down winless Kyabram elsewhere, both clubs knew going in that the loser would drop to third, while the winner would be the minor premier.
As it turned out there was a third result to consider, the draw handing the Magpies the minor premiership, while also disadvantaging Echuca, which lands two points behind Euroa and Mooroopna.
The defences were on top in the low-scoring affair, but it looked like the Murray Bombers’ stoppers were disrupting more effectively as the Cats were held to eight goals in the opening term.
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A run of five straight opened up a six-goal lead for Echuca, although that advantage softened slightly by quarter-time to only four.
Mooroopna slowly worked its way back into things in the second quarter, chipping the lead down to one at half-time in another tight, 9-6 term.
Neither side could break free in the third, Echuca leading by two with a quarter to play, and the Cats immediately levelled the game at the start of the fourth.
Mooroopna was the side with the best claim that it should have taken the points, up three with three minutes left, but the Murray Bombers showed great clutch time resilience to restore parity, the clubs forced to settle for a share of the points 37-all.
It sends Echuca into an elimination game against defending premier Shepparton, which only scraped into sixth after a less impressive season.
Should the Murray Bombers win, they will gain a second chance, advancing to a grand final qualifier against the winner of the Euroa and Mooroopna game.
The Echuca and Bears game will be held on Saturday as part of an afternoon and evening slate at Rochester Recreation Reserve, the game starting at 4pm.
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