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THE Ovens and Murray slumped back to the Victorian Country Championships pack when it fell to nemesis Peninsula by 10 points at Albury Sportsground on Saturday.
After being outplayed for most of the clash, Brendan Fevola’s charges came alive to hit the lead, only to be left distraught when Peninsula kicked the final two goals of the match.
It was Peninsula’s third successive win over the Ovens and Murray.
Led by a hard-nosed midfield, Peninsula should have had the match in its keeping by half-time after kicking 6.10 to 3.2 but inaccuracy in front of goal kept the host league alive.
Five successive goals put the Ovens and Murray in front by a point at the 18-minute-mark of the final term before Brett O’Hanlon and Guy Hendry came to the rescue for Peninsula to propel it into next year’s No. 1 play-off match against Geelong.
“We always knew it was going to be a grind and we picked a side for that,” Peninsula coach Troy Shannon said.
“We missed some shots but didn’t panic. I had a lot of trust in the playing group and team we chose.
“They were hard at it all day.
“It’s good to get through to that No. 1 game again.”
Peninsula failed to capitalise on the dominance of Scott Sienkiewicz and Steven Mannix early and, with Brendan Fevola and Dean Polo kicking goals, trailed by two points at quarter-time.
But it was a different story in the second term as Peninsula ran the ball from defence with ease and gave forwards O’Hanlon, Aaron Edwards, Anthony Bruhn and Ben Crowe ample scoring opportunities.
Edwards kicked only two goals but looked dangerous every time he went near the ball when opposed by Jack Di Mizio or Tyson Hartwig.
While Peninsula had options everywhere, the Ovens and Murray was static in attack with Fevola blanketed by Adam Symes and Adam Prior forced wide or up the ground to win possessions.
The Ovens and Murray started to win more of the ball in the third quarter but broke down in attack and looked a long shot of winning after trailing by 21 points at three-quarter-time.
The odds ballooned even further when Bruhn kicked the opening goal for Peninsula to stretch its lead to 27 points.
But the Ovens and Murray were sparked into action by Matt Pendergast, Craig Ednie, Joel Mackie and Sam Carpenter and, for the first time in the match, found space inside 50 metres for Prior, Ednie, Dean Polo, James Brain and Brayden O’Hara to kick five straight goals to give the home team the lead.
But the fairytale ended there as Peninsula regained its composure to erase the bitter memories of last year’s embarrassing loss to Geelong.
“I was a part of a losing side last year and it doesn’t sit well with me,” Shannon said.
“It’s very important for our league, just like it is for the Ovens and Murray.
“You basically have one game to perform and, thankfully, we have done that.
“The Ovens and Murray were always going to come back at us and I was proud of the way the boys stood up.”
Carpenter was one of the Ovens and Murray’s few four-quarter performers, Ednie flashed in and out of the play — his final-quarter goal from the boundary inspired his teammates — and Pendergast showed inter-league football is far from beyond him.
Unfortunately for the Ovens and Murray, Peninsula had more contributors for longer.