LAVINGTON dealt Wangaratta’s finals hopes a major blow with a 55-point win at Lavington Oval on Saturday.
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The 15.10 (100) to 7.3 (45) victory sees the Panthers maintain their grip on second position but leaves the Magpies six points outside the top-five with five rounds remaining.
Luke Garland was brilliant for Lavington, kicking three goals in a strong all-round performance while Adam Butler and Matt Sharp were also important players for the Panthers.
Michael Newton kicked five first-half goals and was instrumental in keeping the Magpies in the contest early but he lacked support after the long break as the home side ran away with the match.
After struggling to hit the scoreboard a week earlier against Wodonga Raiders, the Panthers started superbly by kicking four goals in the first 15 minutes with Justin Koschitzke proving dangerous.
Newton got the Magpies on the board following a brilliant one-handed mark and kicked his second goal after the quarter-time siren to reduce the margin to 19 points.
The former Melbourne forward kicked three goals in six minutes in a purple patch in the second term and when Matt Kelly goaled from a wonderful left-foot snap, the Magpies trailed by just six points late in the half.
Some exceptional teamwork from Butler and Andrew Dess on the boundary line resulted in an important goal and steadied the ship for the Panthers, who took a 13-point advantage into half-time.
The home side carried that momentum into the third quarter, keeping the Magpies scoreless as Sharp dominated the clearances and Jack Nunn provided relentless pressure in attack.
James McClounan kicked the Magpies first major in more than half an hour early in the last quarter to reduce the margin to 30 points but that would be as close as they got with Butler sealing an impressive Panther performance with a goal after the siren.
“We’ve played three quarters of really good quarters of footy … we were able to spread the load,” Lavington coach James Saker said.
Wangaratta coach Brendan Cairns was disappointed with the loss, a week after downing Yarrawonga.
“We were outworked and we fumbled the footy,” he said.
“Lavington were really clean and their pressure was better than ours.”