A DEPLETED South Bendigo hung on just long enough to defeat hard-charging Gisborne at Harry Trott Oval on Saturday.
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The Bulldogs outscored the Bloods nine goals to three in a pulsating second half, but ran out of time to snatch the four premiership points.
South was down to two rotations for most of the final two terms with playing coach Brady Childs and ace goalsneak Brock Harvey injured and stranded on the bench.
Yet credit must be paid to Gisborne, which had Clinton Young a late withdrawal, but two handy sharpshooters of their own in Tom Wood and Tristan James as South eased home 14.14 (98) to 12.15 (87).
In the BFNL’s closest round 11 match it was all South Bendigo in the first half.
They extended their 16-point lead quarter-time lead to 46 points by the long break, with the inaccurate Dogs posting 1.9 in the second quarter.
In the post-match wash-up that second term probably cost Gisborne the game. Kicking to the Lowndes Street end South had Harvey on fire as he banged home four majors as the Bloods added 7.3.
Alex Hywood, a busy midfielder-forward, added two more South majors as the Bloods eased out to a seven-goal lead.
Gisborne, in comparison, had only Jarryd Vernon on target as he soccered home a goal in time-on after costly misses by Connor Kilbane, Jake Conolan and Kane Grbac.
But the tempo shifted as the third term got underway. Woods, James and Daniel Weaver rammed home majors as South’s lead was whittled away.
When James slotted his second and Vernon climbed over two South defenders to mark and goal, suddenly the Dogs were just 30 points down at the last change.
Forty seconds into the last term Kilbane made amends for his earlier miss when he took a pass from Aaron Storie (the replacement for Young) and slotted a Dogs’ goal.
When Wood angled home his second major and then made no mistake for his third from 25m out the margin was back to just two goals.
But there was a hiccup for the Dogs. Vernon was yellow carded and sent off at the 18-minute mark, leaving Gisborne with just 17 men.
Still, realising how desperate things had become the Bloods rallied. Hywood goaled from a free kick to edge South’s lead out to 18 points at the 22-minute mark.
It was South’s first major since Tom McGhee’s big on-target bomb at the 20-minute mark of the third quarter.
James snapped a beauty for the Dogs, but time had run out and the Bloods prevailed by 11 points.
Childs said his defence led by Zac Hare and Brad Wright had again stood up strongly under pressure.
“Not only can these guys shut down opposition forwards they also drive off to set up scoring chances.
“But really it was a tale of two halves. Our first half was impressive, but in the second they took the footy off us and started running with it as we went into our shells.”
