Dowling’s match-winning goal, which was her fifth for the game, came with 45 seconds to go after the Bushrangers controlled much of the contest after quarter-time.
The performance did yield a lot of positives for Murray, however, as it backed up a convincing win against Bendigo the previous week with a strong performance against one of the competition’s most accomplished teams in Geelong.
“It is never about winning or losing for us, but I think we have a very strong squad together this year with some real top end talent and we need to reward ourselves by when we get into a position to win a game of footy, we do it,” Murray Bushrangers lead coach Mark Brown said in the aftermath of the loss.
“We thought we were the stronger side throughout the day and the girls played a really good brand of footy for the second week in a row which was fantastic, but Geelong are a good squad and as a result they kept coming at us.
“We thought we were in a position where we should have won that game, but that’s footy for you, it doesn’t rely on could’ves and should’ves and we didn’t execute how we would have liked in those last few minutes.”
The heat was on from the first bounce with the Falcons making the most of their opportunities in the opening quarter to skip away to an eight-point lead at quarter-time.
Challenged at the first change, the Bushrangers came out firing in the second term, as Mindy Quade took control of the match with two quick goals to turn the momentum and build an eight-point lead come half-time.
With the game on a knife’s edge, the Falcons responded in the third, shutting down the Bushrangers’ slick ball movement and counterattacking with three crucial majors to have scores level at the final change.
In what was a last quarter filled with momentum swings, the Bushrangers would have thought the game was theirs for the taking as Quade’s fourth goal put them eight points ahead.
But the class of the Falcons rose to the fore in the dying moments, with two goals in two minutes allowing them to snatch a thrilling four-point win.
From a Goulburn Valley perspective, Shepparton United’s Cassidy Mailer was again the standout racking up 19 disposals and kicking goal, while co-captain and Demons teammate Keeley Skepper was also impressive, collecting 19 touches through the midfield.
“(Cassidy) is a natural footballer who understands the game and executes the fundamentals really well and, while her round one performance was strong, she really backed it up with a better performance this week,” Brown said.
“With Keeley we had a bit of a different role for her, we see her as a really natural half-back who uses the ball beautifully and is arguably the best kick in the NAB League, but we are playing her more around the football this year and she is picking it up really quickly which is great.”
