Benalla breaks drought with two-point triumph over Shepparton United

Ex-North Melbourne star Jarrad Waite marked his return to the red, white and black with a six-goal haul, while stalwart James Martiniello had a 200th game to remember as he starred in midfield for the victors.

It was the milestone man who gave Benalla the needed motivation, according to co-coach Will Martiniello, paying tribute to his brother’s determination.

“I think he was really inspiring, especially in that last quarter,” he said.

“I think he was out of gas, but he just kept on fighting and diving on the football.

“I’m really happy for him that we got the win, the boys dug deep to get it for him and that was mine and Macca’s (co-coach Mark MacKenzie) address at the start of the game — let’s go about it as Jimmy does on the ground.”

Benalla’s hunger was as clear as day from the jump, recording the hottest start of any side this season.

Waite was at his menacing best after missing the past few games through a calf injury, assuming the target man role as he shot Benalla out to a 33-point lead at the first break.

The Saints booted eight goals in the opening exchange, but remarkably, they’d only go on to kick two more majors for the latter of the match, both coming in the second quarter.

Shepparton United readjusted and grew into the game, kicking 4.4 in the third to Benalla’s 0.3 to heap the pressure back on the home side, but a stoppage-heavy final stanza restricted the Demons’ ability to cut loose and steal the win.

“We didn’t start well, they moved the ball really well and were clean into the forward line, United coach Duane Hueston said.

“We made a few changes, got a few match-ups right coming into the second quarter and kicked about 2.6 — we needed to capitalise on our great work and reward our effort by kicking the goals which we didn’t do.

“We had a really good third quarter and the last quarter was just stoppage after stoppage.

“We tried to open the play up and get moving because we knew were running over the top of them, but we ran out of time in the end and a couple of things just didn’t go our way.”

With a strong second half of pressure put on by the Demons, Martiniello was rapt at the way his side stepped up to hold on despite not hitting the scoreboard with regular frequency.

“We started the game really, we were five goals up at quarter time and still five up at half time as well, but to Shepp United’s credit they came back as we thought they would,” he said.

“We probably went into our shell a little bit, that attacking brand of footy we were playing stopped and we tried to defend more which doesn’t suit us at all really.

“We went into the last quarter seven points up; we had a couple of chances early but we just couldn’t get that goal on the board to get that little bumper unfortunately.

“To the boys credit, to fight on and hold on to the win — we were down to two people on the bench in the last quarter — the mids really stepped up.

Martiniello also noted Henry Hill starred in the Saints backline, saving the home side on a number of occasions when they were under the pump.

Benalla’s co-coach said the win was a needed lift for the Saints, and will go a long way towards building confidence within the new group.

“It was really good to get the win on the board for the club and to give us a bit of momentum,” he said.

“Hopefully off that win we can keep the positive form up going into Echuca next week.”