A GOAL in the dying stages to Mitchell Comben proved the match-winner for Kyneton as the Tigers scraped past South Bendigo by five points in the BFNL on Saturday.

In what was a second thriller in as many years at the Kyneton Showgrounds between the two sides - they played out a draw at the venue in round one last season - the Tigers squared their ledger at 3-3, while inflicting a fifth-consecutive loss on the Bloods.

Having trailed by 18 points at three quarter-time, the Bloods had the aid of the breeze to the city end in the final quarter and led by two points closing in on the siren.

Enter Comben playing his second game for the Tigers.

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"It was a really difficult goal... he swooped on it from 35-40m out with two blokes about to crash into him from either side," Tigers coach Luke Beattie said.

"He got boot to ball and it went about a metre over the line, which was fantastic, and it was those sort of goals that really determined the game.

"The last quarter in particular was really contested where either side could have easily been in front at the final siren, and fortunately it was us."

Comben's goal delivered the Tigers a 14.13 (97) to 13.14 (92) victory - the five-point margin the same as what Kyneton had led by at half-time.

While Comben kicked the match-winner, Beattie - who has come out of retirement this year with the Tigers facing a struggle for numbers - wound the clock back with a haul of five goals.

"It was nice to have an impact today, which is what I wanted to do when I made the decision to play again and support the group," said Beattie, who was far more accurate than he was earlier in the season when he kicked 1.9 against Castlemaine.

"It was good to have a few sail straight through instead of slightly to the right or left."

The Tigers' best players featured three of their on-ball brigade in Rhys Magin, Hamish Govan and captain Josh Govan.

"Those three midfield boys were absolutely outstanding for us," Beattie said.

As well as Beattie's five goals, the Tigers also had Patrick McCarthy slot three, helping cover the absence of veteran Nathan Thompson.

Tigers' defender Harrison Huntley had the key job on South Bendigo's Kaiden Antonowicz and held the spearhead to one goal.

Huntley also kicked one goal himself in what was the fourth time in the past six meetings between the Tigers and Bloods the margin has been just a kick.

The Bloods, whose best players were led by Kade Blow and Brody Haddow, had multiple goalkickers in Dylan McCutcheon (three), Brock Harvey (two) and Tom Brereton (two).

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