PYRAMID Hill fought back from a 14-point deficit late in the final quarter to defeat Newbridge by three points in their Loddon Valley Football League match on Saturday.

In the closest game of the season so far, the Bulldogs won 16.11 (107) to 16.8 (104) at Mitchell Park in what coach Paul Grayling described as a “get out of jail victory”.

The biggest margin that separated the two sides at any break was the six points the Bulldogs led by at three quarter-time.

However, the Maroons skipped out to a 14-point advantage in the final term, but were unable to hold off the Bulldogs, who avoided an upset defeat at home.

“It was an ugly game of footy with a lot of mistakes and turnovers and in the end, we probably got out of jail,” Grayling said.

“Newbridge threw everything at us and it was a bit of a character-building win for the boys.

“We know we’ll have to play a lot better than that going forward, but at the end of the day, you can only play as good as the opposition lets you.”

The Bulldogs were missing two of their key pillars in attack in Grayling and Sam Kennedy, but Fabian Brancatisano again stepped up inside 50 to provide an avenue to goal.

For the second week in a row Brancatisano kicked six goals, while Nathan Fitzpatrick and Liam Bartels each added three.

Onballers Bryden Morison, Michael Callinan and Danko Bzenic, defender Dylan Morison and young wingman Bevan Gunther led the better players for the Bulldogs, who reach the halfway mark of the season in second position with a 7-1 record.

Newbridge coach Matt Dillon was pleased with the endeavour of his side, but disappointed to surrender the lead late in the game in what was the Maroons’ first match for 21 days.

“You’ve got to wrap the effort up, but when you get 14 points up with six or seven minutes to go and get beaten... we made some silly errors late and didn’t ice the game when we had the chance,” Dillon said.

For the fourth game in a row onballer Lachlan Ford was the Maroons’ best player, with others to also play well including Nathan Bacon, Austin Fithall (five goals) and Billy Price. 

• Bears Lagoon-Serpentine maintained its position in the top three with a crucial 24-point victory over Calivil United.

Having lost their past two games, the Bears won 14.20 (104) to 12.8 (80) at Calivil’s 5 Star Stockfeeds Oval.

“It was a massive game in the context of the season for us,” Bears coach Mick Ring said.

“We needed a win and were able to fight off a lot of challenges throughout the day, so it was a good character-building four points.”

The Bears took the field without former Essendon player Darren Walsh, who injured his calf in the warm-up.

Centre half-back Trevor Johnson, midfield dynamo Benjamin Davis (two goals) and Jarrod Kayler-Thomson (three goals) were the three best for the Bears in their eighth-straight win over the Demons.

The Demons, who hit the front during the third quarter, named Alex Davis, who rotated between centre half-forward and centre half-back, onballer Zac Alford and half-back Blair Richards their best players.

Mid-season recruit Luke Manders in his first game for the Demons kicked four goals.

“We weren’t good enough... simple as that,” Demons coach Andrew Freemantle said.

“They were too clean for us and moved the ball well and that was one of the big  differences.”

• Marong won its third game in a row with a 63-point triumph over Inglewood at home.

The Panthers held the Blues to just one goal in the first half on the way to their 13.16 (94) to 4.7 (31) win.

“They were fairly slippery conditions, which made it hard to break away like we would have liked, but full credit to Inglewood, they cracked in all day and made it a contest,” Marong coach Corey Gregg said.

“We didn’t kick as many goals as I would have liked... we missed a lot of gettable opportunities, but to get a 10-goal win, we’ll take that.”

Brenton Pyper was superb in the backline for the Panthers and held up many of the Blues’ attacking forays with his intercept marking.

Ruckman Daniel Young, Gregg, Nathan Devanny and Kyle Manley (two goals) also played well for the Panthers, who had Josh McKee and Richard Tibbett each kick three goals.

The defeat was the Blues sixth in a row, with the side again jumped in the first term when it trailed by 20 points at quarter-time.

Shane Harris kicked two of the Blues’ four goals to be one of the best players, along with Ben Conley, Ben Rose and Nicholas Dower.

• Mitiamo squared its ledger at 4-4 with a 19-point win at home over YCW.

The Superoos dominated the middle two quarters, kicking eight goals to two to set up their 13.12 (90) to 10.11 (71) win.

“The game didn’t reach any great heights; we were able to get a bit of a roll-on in the third quarter and get a bit of momentum,” Mitiamo coach Denis Grinton said.

While the Superoos kicked 8.7 to 2.3 in the second and third quarters, they were outscored 8.8 to 5.5 by the Eagles in the first and last terms.

Gun recruit Doug Thomas produced another polished midfield game to be the Superoos’ best player.

The versatile James Drake (three goals) also continued his consistent season, while other players to stand out for the Superoos included Tom Grant, Dylan Clohesy across half-back and Terrence Reeves (two goals).

YCW - now 1-7 - again had Mitch Collins its best player for the third time in the Eagles’ past five games.

Jeremy Molloy, Callum Tardrew and Corey O’Brien also worked hard for the Eagles, whose multiple goalkickers were Ryan Walker and Steven O’Keefe (two).