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gvflShepparton News | An inaccurate Geelong outfit has denied Goulburn Valley country football's No. 1 ranking in their clash at Shepparton's Deakin Reserve on Saturday.

The margin could have been far worse, but it does not make Saturday's AFL Victoria Country Championships loss to Geelong Football League any less disappointing for Goulburn Valley.

Apart from a brilliant second quarter, and minor sparks in the third and final terms, Goulburn Valley was completely outplayed against a wildly inaccurate Geelong side at Deakin Reserve, losing the battle for the No.1 ranking by 35 points.

It was always going to be tough going for the home side after the late withdrawals of captain Tim Looby (back) and his deputy Jason Morgan (hamstring soreness).

That was on top of not being able to call on the services of injured Benalla coach Luke Morgan and key position stars Lachie Smith, Daniel Lewis, Tim Bongetti and Billy Burstin.

However, Goulburn Valley coach Travis Ryan said he still felt his side was strong enough to reclaim the No.1 ranking, but believed it could not match it for long enough with the opposition.

''They outran us at the end of the day, I thought we matched it with them for a while through Liam Ogden and Sam Martyn, who got us going and Will Martiniello got a kick in the calf, which set him back,'' Ryan said.

''But basically the game was won through the middle of the ground, where they just outran us basically and they were just too good on the day.''

The writing was on the wall early as Geelong came out firing with devastating ball movement and clinical work at the clearances.

If it was not for the visitors butchering chances on goal in perfect conditions without a trace of wind, the contest could have nearly been over before Goulburn Valley scored.

Ryan's side registered its first point at the 17th minute mark of the first quarter when Geelong had already put 2.7 on the board.

Goulburn Valley's young defence, led by Luke Morris, Jake Pallpratt and Hugh Robertson, stood up well under extreme pressure.

The margin was just 19 points heading into the first change at which Ryan called it ''the worst quarter of interleague football'' he had seen.

The stinging rebuke at quarter-time sparked Goulburn Valley into action as the home side piled on six straight goals, while Geelong was missing regulation chances at will.

Goulburn Valley's best-on-ground Sam Martyn led the charge out of the middle, while Liam Ogden was breaking the lines at every opportunity.

The forward line, which was starved of opportunities in the first quarter, started to capitalise.

Benalla's Nick Warnock stood up to kick two clutch goals approaching half-time, while Rochester's gun recruit Steven Stroobants booted a crowd-lifting major.

While it might have looked like complete domination to Goulburn Valley in the second term, Geelong's wayward approach around goals made it slightly deceiving.

Goulburn Valley was buoyed by taking a 14-point lead into half-time, but it would only add two more goals for the day.

Geelong's big guns Dane McFarlane, Jason Davenport, Darcy Fort and former Shepparton Swan Dan Lovick got on top in the third quarter to help the visitors slowly stretch out their lead.

Brandon Howarth kicked a goal at the five-minute mark, but Geelong followed it up with six more behinds for the scoreline to read 4.23 before Howarth finally put the visitors back in front.

A 17-point deficit at three-quarter-time was not insurmountable for Goulburn Valley, especially as it was kicking to what had been the scoring end for the day.

It seemed to be looking that way when Ogden and Mansfield's Nick Gray goaled in the opening minutes to spark the home crowd into action.

But it was not to be as Geelong responded to the challenge in supreme fashion.

''The game should've been over by quarter-time, we hit the front by 14 points at one stage and if we kicked both of the easy shots in the third quarter, then they're under pressure, but they took their chances in the third quarter,'' Ryan said.

Goulburn Valley drops back to the third in the Country Championships and it sets up a rematch next year of last year's clash against Ballarat Football League.

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