However, it was to no avail as the Bears clicked into gear in the second half to chalk yet another mark in the win column this season.
The round 13 affair began with United making the best return from its goal kicking, booting 2.1 to an inaccurate four behinds by the Bears.
The scoreline reversed nearly identically in the second term, with goals to Connor Fleming and Lewis McShane seeing the Bears enter the sheds with a one-point advantage - 2.5 (17) to 2.4 (16).
A “shifty” surface from rain during the week played into a contested brand of footy to start the match despite the sunny Saturday conditions, as Shepparton co-coach Jason Wells stated it took some time for the Bears to adjust its game plan accordingly.
“It was a contested game for the first half as you can see by the scoring, or lack thereof,” Wells said.
“Speaking to a few of the players they found the ground was a bit shifty from the rain during the week because it wasn’t a bad day for footy weather-wise.
“I think we weren’t controlling the ball as much as we wanted and were going too fast, so we had to change our mode of play to capitalise better.”
From the return of the half-time interval, the ladder leaders flexed their muscle with three goals in as many minutes.
Best-on-ground Zac Metcalf kicked the opening goal of the term before Luke Smith went for a double within a minute to create a 19-point advantage.
The Demons tightened its defensive structure to dry up the scoring, but it would take 10 minutes before Matthew Casey notched a reply to the rapid Bears start, kicking his third of three majors for the contest.
United peppered the goals in the dying minutes of the third term but would come away with only an additional three minor scores, making it an 11-point game at three-quarter-time.
Despite Shepparton United’s momentum surge, the siren seized up its run of play, and out of the final huddle it was once again the Bears mauling the contest early in the term.
Young gun Angus Williams hit the scoreboard first, before Metcalf booted his second.
McShane found his second next before another teenage talent in Spencer Sharp sealed the deal after a Demons goal through Liam Serra, resulting in a 4.8 (32) to 9.10 (64) victory for Shepparton, its second over United in 2026.
Wells stated the Bears will enter a light training load this week with the GVL interleague bye approaching, set to manage a “few sore bodies” before the last patch pre-finals.
“We have a fair few boys that are pretty sore, definitely a few sore bodies,” he said.
“We’ve still got at least six in the senior and under-19 interleague squads, so we’ll have to monitor their training blocks after that as well if they play.
“It’s almost the business end of the season but there’s still plenty left to play and stuff to work on to see where we can finish on the ladder.”
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