Hotspurs got off to a quick start when Luke Dahl found the back of the net in the fifth minute with a piece of individual brilliance.

The Wanderers’ defence was very shaky early in the contest, but a goal from Cayne Wilhelm 21 minutes settled the nerves as they went into the break at 1-1.

It was a different side after the break as Michael Shimmin put the hosts in front with a excellent long range effort in the 58th minute, before Dylan Richardson sealed the game a minute from full time.

Twin City coach Lee Botting was pleased with his side’s recovery.

“We were scrappy in the first half and tried to play the game as if we still had Matt Hasler on the park with the pace, but Shimmo (Michael Shimmin) hasn’t got the pace,” Botting said.

“It puts us in a good position in the league.

“We’ve got a tough run coming up, but if you’re winning, you go there with confidence.

“We know we can’t have bad first halves or a bad half an hour against the best sides.”

Phil Tester got through a half with sore hip flexor, while Josh Zito will miss next week’s clash at Myrtleford after accumulating his fifth yellow card of the season.

“His (Zito) presence on the park is incredible and he’s that sort of player,” Botting said.

“I don’t want him to play any differently, that (yellow card) was through a tough tackle rather than verbal, which is what we want.”

Hotspurs’ coach Robert Tuksar admitted his side had too many passengers.

“We should have run that team off their feet, but we couldn’t play around them,” Tuksar said.

“We played poorly and allowed them to do stuff we normally wouldn’t.

“Credit to them, they took their chances and deserved their victory.

“Cobram were two points ahead of us in eighth, but we can’t be relying on results.

“I didn’t want to be scraping into eighth, I’d rather be busting our backsides for sixth rather than just getting in there.” 

In other results, Melrose stayed in the hunt for the league title with a hard-fought 3-2 victory against Albury United.

A double from Adam Waters gave Melrose a 3-1 lead at the break, before United captain Caleb Martin kept the Greens in the hunt with a second half goal.

Wangaratta stayed level with Melrose and Myrtleford on points with a 2-0 win against Albury City.

A Noah Spiteri hat trick saw Boomers move back to fourth with a 3-2 triumph against Wodonga Diamonds.

Cobram returned to winning ways with a 7-0 drubbing of St Pats.

The senior men’s ladder after round 12 is: Myrtleford 30, Melrose 30, Wangaratta 30, Boomers 24, Albury United 22, Twin City 19, Cobram 18, Albury City 16, Albury Hotspurs 13, Wodonga Diamonds 7, St Pats 4.