Kyabram plays out yet another Goulburn Valley League thriller with inaccurate Euroa

A defender lands atop the ball, quickly pounced upon. Could the man on the street have been persuaded to pay holding the ball?

The umpire elects for a ball up 30m from goal, but the siren beats him to the stoppage as the visitors, woefully inaccurate for most of the night in front of goal, escape with a three-point win.

One would think this was a match report on the controversial finish at Adelaide Oval Friday night, but a remarkably similar scene unfolded in Euroa’s narrow Goulburn Valley League victory over Kyabram at the Wilf Cox Complex 24 hours later.

Both of these sides have been here before, though.

Euroa’s perfect record continues after its second win with a three-point margin, third overall, following its memorable close call with Shepparton Swans a fortnight ago.

The heartbreak among home observers at Kyabram was no stranger either, with the Bombers’ three results — one win among them — coming at a Carlton-esque combined margin of 13 points.

Kyabram had its contributors, with the four big majors of Brad Mangan leading the way.

Key injuries and off-season departures led to questions over the Bombers’ offence, but Mangan was steady in the air and provided the spearhead that kept things close.

What also kept matters tight was the Magpies’ astonishing bevy of blown chances in front of the big sticks for three-and-a-half quarters, sitting at 6.14 with 10 minutes to play and looking every bit like costing themselves four points.

The two majors Euroa did muster up to scrape over the line were conjured virtually out of thin air — first, an acute crumbing snap from Lachlan Hill after winning the race to a loose ball from a penetrating kick that missed its initial target.

Capping the game and restoring the lead, Euroa had briefly squandered through a late Kyabram rally, was Tristan Davies with a desperate toe-poke inside the goalsquare amidst a raft of lunging arms.

Only after the final stanza in Kyabram’s arc could the Magpies finally savour a gritty 8.15 (63) to 9.6 (60) win.

Neale Poole, coaching in the suspended Ryan Pendlebury’s absence, rued the necessity of that gripping finish.

“We didn’t put them away; we had opportunities, but we kicked poorly for goal,” Poole said.

“Once you’ve gone over 25 minutes, you don’t know how long you’ve got and there’s always a chance you’ll sneak one, but there was a very good chance we’d let it slip.

“It can become a scramble in the last couple of minutes where nothing happens, but we were glad we defended for those last two or three minutes.

“Our pressure today, at times, was the best it’s been all year.”

In contrast to Kyabram, there were solely individual contributors on Euroa’s scoresheet, with no multiple goal-kickers.

Poole highlighted Andrew Smith as one of his side’s best, an ever-familiar name to hear in such discussions.

The Magpies will need Smith at his best to give the on-ballers first look against another unbeaten side in Echuca this week.

“We’ve had some great battles with Echuca, but haven’t been able to get over the top of them for two years,” Poole said.

“I’m glad we’ve got them on our home deck. We fancy our chances of trying to upset them, but it’s a huge challenge.

“They don’t look any less formidable; they might even be more so.”

As for the heartbroken Bombers, co-coach Corey Carver summed matters up simply in analysing what went wrong on the night.

“We need to clean up. Poor decision-making and poor kicking are hurting us in the first half and we need to tidy it up.

“Our players are gutsy and they work and work; you just hope that’s enough to get us over the line.

“I’m hoping we get some personnel back next week, for a start. You just have to tackle (Shepparton United) like any other side and they’ll be tough again.”