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MOUNT Pleasant further strengthened its credentials in the Heathcote District league on Saturday, inflicting the first loss of the season on Lockington-Bamawm United.
Having beaten North Bendigo earlier this month, the Blues added the Cats to their list of scalps this season with their 15.16 (106) to 15.11 (101) victory at Toolleen.
Well on the way to playing finals for the first time since 2014, the Blues are now 4-1 and belief is growing.
"To have beaten both North Bendigo and LBU... I don't think too many teams are going to beat them, so they are really big results for the club," Blues coach Darren Walsh said.
"Those sort of wins create the belief that we can beat any side in the competition.
"It may have come a bit sooner than we thought, but it shows how much the group has grown."
The two sides combined for 21 goals in the first half as the Cats led by 15 points at the main break, 12.4 to 9.7.
The Blues then unleashed a five-goal to one third quarter to gain the ascendancy.
READ MORE - SATURDAY SCOREBOARD - May 25, 2019
"It was a real finals-type game of footy today... we were playing a quality opposition, it was physical and a shoot-out in the first half," Walsh said.
"I was really proud of the boys because we were only left with one rotation in the last quarter, so it was a really gutsy win."
Luke Marchesi (kidney), Charles Trotman (ankle) and Taig Griffin (neck) were the injury concerns out of the game for the Blues.
Adding to the calibre of the win for the Blues, they beat the ladder-leaders without a significant impact on the scoreboard from their star Ben Weightman (two goals).
Ruckman/forward Mitch Bennett (three goals), midfielder Tom Pontell and Jesse Tuohey off half-back were the best for the Blues.
The Blues had been 11 points up before a goal to the Cats' Lachlan Collins seconds before the siren cut the final margin to under a kick.
Saturday was the second game in a row decided by less than a goal for the Cats. The previous round they scraped past White Hills by four points.
"Mounts played some good footy today and we just couldn't quite get there in the end," Cats coach Kahl Oliver said.
"It was disappointing to have a good lead at half-time, but then have an ordinary third quarter and we just left it too late in the last.
"No excuses, but we had some handy players missing in Liam Main, Bart Phillips and Nathan O'Brien, who have been three of our in-form players and we probably showed a bit of how much we rely on them."
The trio of Jarod Bacon, Collins and Patrick Gardiner kicked four goals each for the Cats.
The best for the Cats were led by three of their backline group in Rhys Woodland, Jeremy Mundie, who also kicked two goals, and Marcus Angove.
WHITE HILLS v HEATHCOTE
The lively duo of Mitch Dole and Jed Lamb kicked eight goals each in White Hills' 67-point win at home over Heathcote.
Wearing a royal blue with a white sash heritage jumper harking back to their early days when they were known as the "Navies", the Demons won 22.13 (145) to 12.6 (78).
Dole is in a rich vein of form having now kicked bags of eight, six and eight in his past three games.
"He has always been a special player and when the ball hits the deck, there's no-one catching him," Demons coach Sam Kerridge said.
"He has some of the best footwork I've seen from anyone at any level. He's moving really well and is certainly playing with plenty of confidence."
Through a mix of a hamstring injury and cameos with Bentleigh, Saturday was Lamb's first game for the Demons since Good Friday.
"It was the first time he and Doley have played together inside 50... they are still working out their chemistry and there were obviously a lot of good signs today," Kerridge said.
After trailing by seven points at quarter-time, the Demons killed the contest off with 11 goals to two in the second and third terms.
As well as Lamb and Dole starring, another of the Demons recruits in Pascale Craig - whose opposing coach, Wayne Primmer, was his premiership coach at Sandhurst in 2016 - was also one of White Hills' best.
"Today was his third game back from a broken toe, so he's still getting his fitness back, but his presence inside as a big unit was really good," Kerridge said.
Dylan Robinson and Thomas Pain kicked three goals each for the winless Saints, who named Louis Piccolo their best.
LEITCHVILLE-GUNBOWER v COLBINABBIN
Just 15 goals were kicked for the match as Colbinabbin defeated Leitchville-Gunbower by 16 points.
For the third time in their six games so far, the Bombers were held to under 50 points as the Grasshoppers prevailed 9.10 (64) to 6.12 (48) at Leitchville.
"It was a scrappy game... both teams applied really good pressure, so there was a lot of repeat stoppages and not a lot of clean pieces of play," Colbinabbin coach Julian Bull said.
"I felt we were able to control most of the game; we got an early lead and the ball spent a lot of time in our forward half.
"Along with North Bendigo, Leitchville has one of the top home ground advantages in the competition, so to go up there and walk away with a win, we're really happy.
"The boys effort was really good all day, but just a little bit of execution let us down."
Forward Michael Battista, who took 11 marks, midfielder Todd Bryant, Lachlan Ezard and ruckman Hadleigh Sirett were Colbinabbin's best players.
Forwards Jack Dye (four) and Daniel Coates (two) combined to kick the six goals for the Bombers.
NORTH BENDIGO v ELMORE
North Bendigo dished out another heavy defeat on Elmore in a 27.15 (177) to 9.11 (65) romp at Atkins Street.
The 112-point margin was the fifth time in a row the Bulldogs have beaten the Bloods by a triple-figure margin.
"North was a lot cleaner than we were; their ball-use is second-to-none, they hit the easy target and work forward well as a team," Elmore coach Danny Brewster said.
In their first game for 21 days following a bye and then the inter-league break, the Bulldogs had Darcy Richards (six), Storm Giri (four), their best player Zach Alford (four), Ben Knight (three) and Joel Helman (three) combine for 20 goals in what was North Bendigo's 31st-straight win at home.
The North Bendigo side included the return of 2014 Cheatley medallist Tyson Findlay (one goal) for his first game of the season after recovering from a hand injury.
Elmore kicked five of its nine goals in the final quarter.
On a tough day for the Bloods, who have suffered three big losses in a row since starting 2-1, Bailey Boyack in the midfield after half-time was their best, while Rhys Healey has a hamstring concern.
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