Shepparton has secured third spot on the Goulburn Valley League table with a round to go in the regular season after a convincing win against Benalla at the weekend.
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The Bears had to work hard for the spoils of victory against the Saints at Deakin Reserve — especially early in the piece — but eventually broke the dam wall to claim a 63-point triumph.
"We were rapt," Shepparton coach Troy King said.
"In the first quarter Benalla probably had 70 per cent of the play in their forward half I reckon, but we just held and held and held and were able to keep them goalless, the backline was outstanding.
"We probably only went in four or five times ourselves and managed to snag a couple of goals."
Although they had built an 11-point advantage at the first break the Bears were unable to push the issue in the second term, but a refocus at the main change brought out a new Shepparton side.
"The second quarter was pretty ordinary, we went away from what we wanted to do and probably mucked around with the ball a bit too much," King said.
"But we had a good chat at half-time and we got back to the way we wanted to play in the third quarter."
Shepparton booted six goals to three in the penultimate stanza before piling on another five unanswered majors in the last term to blow the Saints out of the water.
But the win could yet come at a cost, with injuries mounting throughout the day.
"I think both teams didn't finish with a bench," King said.
"We had Jack Wilson concussed, Rhiley Lau rolled his ankle in the last five minutes and Xavier Stevenson was tight in the first quarter and kept playing, but by three-quarter time we pulled the pin.
"Mitch Brett was really close to playing and Nick Allan was a late withdrawal Friday night, so hopefully we get both of them back next week too.
"We've locked up third spot now and have worked really hard for it, it's a good reward for the boys."
Lau, David Stretton and Ted Lindon were among Shepparton's better performers, with Tom Boyd and Anthony Andronaco booting three goals apiece.
"Ted Lindon was outstanding, he played on Brody Webster," King said.
"I reckon the last few times Webster has played Shepparton he's kicked bags of five or six goals and Ted held him goalless. The whole back six were outstanding.
"It was David Stretton's 50th club game and he was really good, that was probably in his top three or four (performances) for Shepparton."
Riley Moran, Stephen Murray and Will Martiniello battled hard for the Saints, who have now dropped to seventh after this defeat.
But a final-round pearler against sixth-placed Rochester gives James Martiniello's troops a clear path to finals action.
"It’s simple really, it’s do or die," he told the Benalla Ensign.
"We start finals a week early, we’ll do everything we can.
"Playing at home will hopefully give us an advantage, but we just need to get back to playing our best football."
THE GAME
Shepparton 2.0, 4.2, 10.5, 15.10 (100) d
Benalla 0.1, 2.4, 5.6, 5.7 (37)
Goals
Shepparton: Tom Boyd, Anthony Andronaco 3, Joel Brett, David Stretton, Ash Holland 2, Harry Boyd, Jayden Gagliardi, Jordan Cox.
Benalla: Jamie Dunne 2, Tom Rigby, Stephen Murray, Cody Crawford.
Best
Shepparton: Rhiley Lau, David Stretton, Ted Lindon, Orien Kerr, Rhys O'Sullivan, Joel Brett.
Benalla: Riley Moran, Stephen Murray, Will Martiniello, Cody Crawford, Nick Warnock, Jamie Dunne.
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