FINAL SCORE: Eagles: 12.9 (81) Panthers: 11.14 (80)
The Good Friday Indigenous match between Maiden Gully YCW Eagles and Marong Panthers went down to the final siren.
A behind by Eagles' coach and player Wayne Mitrovic got the team over the line for its first win of the 2019 Loddon Valley Football Netball League season.
The Eagles looked to take an early control of the game with a 4.5 (29) to 2.6 (18) lead at the end of the first quarter.
However, the Panthers came clawing back in the second quarter, restricting the Eagles to just one goal to take the lead 7.11 (53) to 5.6 (36) at halftime.
Both teams continued with strong momentum during the third quarter, but the Panthers 9.12 (66) were still able to contain the Eagles to 8.7 (55).
The battle heated up in the final quarter with the Eagles kicking the first three goals to take control of the game, but the Panthers were ready to take it down to the wire.
With the scores level at 80 points each, an eleventh hour behind from Mitrovic sealed the deal.
"I was happy with how the team managed with the pressure during the last quarter and was able to make the right decisions when the game was in the balance," Mitrovic said.
"Being a young group I could see the pressure was on them and I didn't know how they would handle it.
"We showed poise in the last quarter and kicked to areas of the ground that were advantageous to us."
Panthers coach Ash Weldon said despite many opportunities throughout the game, his team couldn't "capitalise".
"It's disappointing in terms of we had a lot of chances to win the game, but we just didn't take them," he said.
Eagles' best on ground was Sean Moyle and Mitrovic leading with four goals.
Panthers' best on ground was Justin Hynes and Ben Gregg leading with three goals.
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