Albury's fight from 29 points down to topple Wangaratta Rovers

The Tigers fumbled their way through the first three quarters, but showed why they've won seven of the past 10 flags by storming home with five successive goals in the 8.11 (59) to 7.13 (55) win.

Unlike last week's high standard clash against Lavington, the match was a stinker for the most part, but the visitors deserve tremendous praise for striking when the Hawks' inaccuracy cost them.

"It's just what Albury do, they did it to Raiders in the finals last year when I was coaching," Rovers' coach Daryn Cresswell said.

"They just know how to win and that's what we're teaching our players."

When Rovers' Raven Jolliffe goaled superbly from a tight angle midway through the second quarter, the home team had a 29-point break and Albury had just the one goal.

The Tigers never looked likely, although they took the momentum into the final term when Chris Hyde landed a pressure goal from 40m on the siren to cut the deficit to 16 points.

The game was there to be won and when Hawk Nick Murray marked in the opening minutes he had a chance to regain the momentum, but missed.

The home team started making more mistakes and impressive debutant Austin Shepherd bobbed up to make it under two kicks.

With 10 minutes left, the visitors again went forward, the ball spilling to Joel Mackie, who nailed the shot.

And just minutes later, Mackie again judged the ball to seize the lead for the first time.

The Tigers were hurtling home and Brayden O'Hara, who'd been inaccurate, drilled a shot for a nine-point buffer.

It was hard to believe, after dominating for periods, Rovers were behind, but with 64 seconds left, teenager Ed Dayman handed his team a chance with a pressure kick from 20m in front.

Hawk Jack Reiter almost took a mark with seconds left and when the siren sounded, Jolliffe slumped to the ground, barely able to believe what had just happened as the Tigers celebrated the great escape.

"They got on top of us around the footy and (Alex) Jones was terrific in that area and it gained them territory," Cresswell said when quizzed what went wrong.

"It put our defence under pressure and I thought that is where the game changed.

"They (Albury) have a lot of experience that do good things at the right time and that's why they're Albury."

Jones was strong in that final term, while Jessy Wilson, ruckman Zach Bye and Shaun Daly all impressed.

Hawks' defenders Nathan Cooper and Tristan Lenaz were terrific, along with Jolliffe.

Cresswell was philosophical.

"I'm proud of the players' effort," he said.

"We're coming from a long way back (wooden spoon) and we're improving in a lot of aspects."

Rovers have now split their six games where the result has been under 17 points.