After falling agonisingly short by just one point last week against Mansfield, the Bombers responded late, pulling away late to claim an important victory in the Goulburn Valley League.
Kyabram co-coach Corey Carver admitted the bounce-back was crucial.
“Very important, because you don’t want to be dropping two in a row against two pretty good teams,” he said.
“It was an arm wrestle for most of it, but we were able to sort of get going late luckily, and we ran over them.”
The contest lived up to the billing of two clubs with September aspirations.
Echuca, the benchmark side of the past three seasons, threw plenty at Kyabram early, holding sway with their defensive press through much of the third term.
The Murray Bombers took the lead by a couple of goals early in the third term and threatened to run away with it.
But the Bombers weathered the storm, knowing they were close to breaking the green and white press.
“They got a couple of goals up early in the third and we just couldn’t get through them,” Carver said.
“But we just kept working it, and eventually we were able to get through late in the third.
“The game opened up a little more in the last, and some of our runners got rolling, and we were able to score some goals.”
The victory completes a season sweep of Echuca, with Kyabram also winning their earlier clash by more than five goals.
It’s a result that would have raised eyebrows a few years ago, but Carver was quick to temper any suggestion of a changing of the guard.
“We’re aware they’ve got a lot of injuries, they’ve lost some key personnel, which anyone would find difficult to replace, and they’re probably a little bit younger than what they had been in the past,” he said.
“For us it’s just about playing stronger for longer. If you can play the whole 120 minutes, you’re hoping you can wear them down, and we’ve been able to do that both times.”
Last week’s narrow defeat may yet prove a blessing in disguise.
Kyabram had looked slightly off the boil, but the response was emphatic.
“That’s what people say, is that the loss you need?” Carver said.
“We played pretty poorly, Mansfield were really good last week, but parts of our game just weren’t there at all.
“That was the talk during the week, just get back to playing our game. We were really poor by foot against Mansfield.
“We tidied that up this week, and it made a difference. Hopefully it sharpens you up and you can maintain that better standard.”
Kyabram now looks to round out the home-and-away season against the Shepparton Swans, another side pushing for finals momentum.
With the Bombers’ position locked in at the top, the stakes may not be ladder-related, but Carver insists the challenge is about keeping standards high.
“They’re a really good young running side, so we’ll need to be at our best,” he said.
“The position itself won’t change or matter too much, but you just want to maintain high standards and good form. We’ll prepare properly, know they’ll hit us hard, and hopefully it goes our way.”
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