A point from Oliver Poole with the final kick of the game lifted the Bendigo Pioneers boys to a thrilling one-point win over Greater Western Victoria Rebels in Ballarat.
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The Pioneers rallied from three goals behind in the final term to maintain their unbeaten start to the Coates Talent League Boys season by the narrowest of margins.
With scores level, the ball was locked inside Bendigo's front half for much of the final two minutes.
Key forward Jobe Shanahan, who had a big impact on the game, attempted to break the deadlock by taking the ball out of the ruck from a stoppage.
However, his snap under pressure went out of bounds on the full.
With the Rebels kicking the ball back in from deep in the pocket, it didn't appear as though there was enough time for either team to score.
From the kick-in, Shanahan won a key contest on the half-forward flank and the Pioneers worked the ball to Poole, who was inexplicably unmarked running inside 50.
Poole's running shot from 35m out wasn't his best execution by foot, but the ball did float through for a behind as the final siren sounded.
The Pioneers won 10.14 (74) to 11.7 (73) to move to a 4-0 record, while the Rebels are 0-4.
"Ballarat was the best team for three quarters of the game,'' Bendigo Pioneers coach Danny O'Bree admitted.
"They beat us in the hunt for the footy and their tackle pressure was enormous.
"At half-time we spoke about the fact that we'd been convincingly beaten.
"Credit to (skipper) Dayten (Uerata), who grabbed the boys as a group and he really challenged them. He said they all had the cape on and it was time to take it off and play a team brand of footy.
"I thought our third quarter was fantastic and we played some of the team footy we want to play.
"We were nearly six goals down in the second quarter and three goals down in the last quarter, so the group did well to work their way back into the game.
"That's the third game we've come back like that. Ordinary teams don't do that. I'm not saying we're a great team, but ordinary teams don't do that."
Shanahan took nine marks, had 21 possessions and kicked a goal.
Archer Day-Wicks showed his class with 21 disposals and one goal, midfielder Lachlan Hogan had 20 possessions and kicked one goal, while key forward James Barrat kicked 3.5 from 15 touches.
The Pioneers, who are second on the ladder, face their biggest test of the season so far next Sunday when they host the fourth-placed Northern Knights in their first game of the year at the QEO.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR PIONEERS GIRLS
The Bendigo Pioneers' girls suffered their first loss of the season.
The Pioneers, who were without star midfielder Lucia Painter, went down to the GWV Rebels 7.7 (49) to 6.0 (36).
"The disappointing thing was we couldn't play our game style for long enough,'' Pioneers' girls coach Whitney Kennedy said.
"It was a contested, congested game and we moved away from how we want to play. When you do that you end up chasing tail for the game.
"Previous weeks we were able to dig ourselves out of it, but this week we couldn't.
"It was a really good learning curve for the girls."
After trailing by four goals at the last break, the Pioneers gave themselves a sniff of victory when they kicked two goals in the opening three minutes of the final term.
The Rebels shut down the Pioneers' momentum and no more goals were kicked by either team.
Jemmika Douglas, Alexis Gregor, Issy Boulton and Sasha Pearce were best for the Pioneers.
The Pioneers' girls also return to the QEO next Sunday to play the Northern Knights.
