South's 11.8 (74) to 7.13 (55) round 13 win over Kyneton at the QEO lifted the Bloods above the Tigers to fourth place on the ladder.

With South Bendigo having an easier run home than the Tigers and sixth-placed Eaglehawk, the Bloods should play finals for the first time since 2012.

While delighted to secure the four points, South Bendigo coach Nathan Horbury said the Bloods still had plenty of work to do.

"It was pleasing that we hung on and won, but if you want to play finals footy you can't just play 20 minutes of footy and think that's good enough,'' Horbury said.

"Hopefully, we can start to piece together some consistent performances over the next few weeks.

"The four points today puts us in a good position to play finals if we do the right thing over the next few weeks and beat the teams we should beat.

"If we can upset Gisborne or Strathfieldsaye then it puts us in a really good spot and we might even be able to pinch third.

"We can't just rest on what we've done so far."

The first 13 minutes of the match proved to be decisive for the Bloods.

Kicking to the city end with the aid of the breeze, the Bloods piled on five goals to none and it looked like the home side was going to blow the Tigers away.

Rocked by the late withdrawal of key midfielders Dean Bartrop and James Gaff, on top of the absence of the suspended Cameron Manuel and Frazer Driscoll, the Tigers couldn't get their hands on the footy for the first half of the quarter.

Key defender Harrison Huntley did his best to curtail the Bloods' run and the Tigers implemented some tempo footy.

They chipped the ball around and maintained possession for the best part of 10 minutes and the Bloods lost momentum.

Kyneton full-forward Ryan Pretty broke the Tigers' duck 22 minutes into the first quarter.

The Tigers needed a bright start with the breeze in the second term, but much like the first term it was the Bloods who dominated possession in the opening 10 minutes.

Michael Herlihy kicked a set shot goal into the wind that somehow wasn't touched by the Tiger tall timber before Alex Smith burst through a pack to deliver Brock Harvey his second goal on a platter.

The Bloods led by 36 points eight minutes into the second term and it again looked like being a potential percentage booster.

The Tigers dug in for the fight.

First-gamer Cody Young showed some class with a fine mark and pass to Rhys Magin. The Tiger veteran calmly slotted his shot at goal.

Pretty added his second goal via a pass from Magin before assistant coach Guy Dickson kicked truly from 35m out after the half-time siren to reduce South's lead to just 16 points at the main break.

The Bloods all but sealed the points with a strong third quarter.

They added 3.3 to 0.3, with two of the goals coming from the in-form Brock Harvey, to lead by 34 points at the final change.

The Bloods had a golden opportunity to land the knockout blow, but the Tigers had other ideas.

They came hard at the Bloods in the final quarter and, if they had kicked straight, it could have been a tight finish.

Wingman Louis Phillips, who was one of Kyneton's best all day, kicked truly one minute into the final term.

The Tigers' next five scoring shots were all behinds - a couple of the shots were goals they'd normally kick.

Magin broke the run of points with his second goal of the day at the 19-minute mark to make the margin 19 points.

When Pretty kicked his third goal at the 24-minute mark the margin was back to two goals and the Bloods were restless.

The Tigers had multiple forward entries, but they bombed away and South's Horbury and Dylan Johnstone were able to take defensive marks to ease the pressure.

Fittingly, classy forward Will Keck iced the game for the Bloods in the dying seconds with his fourth goal of the game.

Kyneton coach Paul Chapman admitted he contemplated coming out of retirement and pulling on the boots for the clash with the Bloods.

"We had a few out, but that's no excuse,'' Chapman said.

"We didn't come to play considering the situation and the team we were playing.

"It's all about intent and your want and we didn't have that in the first half of the first quarter.

"Credit to South Bendigo, they came to play and put us on the back foot.

"I thought our second half was much better and even in the last quarter we could have made more of a game of it if we had kicked straight.

"When we play with the right attitude I think we're a very good team and we're very competitive.

"When we're off, we drop away quite a bit and we got found out today."

The fifth-placed Tigers are on 28 points - four points behind South Bendigo.

Sixth-placed Eaglehawk is on the same points as Kyneton, but the Tigers hold a slender 2.34 advantage on percentage.

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