The Bloods had trailed by seven points at three quarter-time, before kicking six goals to two in the final term with the wind to win their first game since beating Huntly by 21 points in round 16 last year and end a 15-game losing streak.

The victorious coach wasn’t Tony Southcombe, but Andy Grant.

Southcombe was ill and unable to coach the Bloods.

“We’ve been in winning situations before today, but just hadn’t been able to put four quarters together,” Grant said.

“But today I felt we outplayed them for most of the day and was always confident we’d win the game.

“We had a good even contribution from everyone today and it was just fantastic we were able to dig deep and get the win.

“It’s great for the club and the community and all the people who put in the time and effort.”

The best for the Bloods was Russell Fulton, who rebounded well off half-back.

Captain Tom Kuhne in defence, ruckman Jack Hayes, mid-season midfield recruit Brad Hewat and former coaches Grant (two goals) and Bryce Scott were others to play strong games.

Hewat and Ryan Wellington kicked three goals each for the winners.

Mount Pleasant’s loss to what had been the winless bottom side further highlighted the Blues’ status as one of the biggest disappointments this year.

Having trailed by 18 points at half-time, the Blues kicked five goals to one in the third quarter, but couldn’t go on with it in the last.

“Elmore played really well, so credit to them,” Blues coach Shaun Young said.

“Our first half really let us down and we had to play catch-up footy like we’ve had to all year.”

Taig Griffin, Aaron McKean (four goals), Trevor Douglas and Nicholas Butler played well for the Blues, who are now 0-7 at home this year.

Full-forward Matt Gilmore kicked four goals and now leads the HDFL goalkicking with 54.

● You could have been forgiven for thinking they were pristine conditions at  Classique Development Oval as Heathcote beat North Bendigo by 10 points.

In a scoreline resembling dry weather football, the Saints won an entertaining contest 17.11 (113) to 16.7 (103)

Not only were 33 goals kicked in the wet conditions, but by half-time the two sides had combined for 24.3 as the Saints led 12.2 to 12.1.

“The skills from both sides today were just fantastic and looking at the scoreboard, you would have thought it was dry weather football,” Heathcote coach Grant Ford said.

“After losing to Colbinabbin last week, we knew we really had to pull together as a team today, especially playing North Bendigo at North Bendigo.

“It was just a real slogfest between the two sides... they’d get a few points up, then we’d get a few points up.

“The last quarter was just grit and determination from both sides. There was bodies flying everywhere and both sides flooded the backlines.”

The win – which keeps the Saints just percentage outside the top five – was a 95-point turnaround on round six when they had been belted by 85 points by the Bulldogs.

“We spoke at the start of the day that they embarrassed us at our home ground last time, so we wanted to do the same today and we got the result,” Ford said.

Saints’ onballer Marc Millard’s purple patch of form continued with another outstanding display.

Millard (three goals) was well supported by Jake Condon (four goals), ruckman Daniel Russell and half-back Daniel Carroll.

The defeat continued North Bendigo’s form slump, with the Bulldogs having now dropped four in a row for the first time since 2008.

“It was disappointing not to win the game,” said Bulldogs coach Damien Lock, whose game ended early after copping a knock to the neck in friendly fire from team-mate Daniel Sipthorp.

“We had a good week on the track after what happened last week (100-point loss to Huntly) to get right for this one.

“But they just did the basics better than us today. They were clean with the footy and really desperate.

“In saying that, it was a lot better performance than what we’ve been putting up the past couple of weeks.

“The past month has been disappointing, but hopefully, we can get back up and going at the end and fire a few shots when it counts.”

Ryan Alford (three goals), Aaryn Craig (four goals), Ash Craig (two goals) and the returning Damien Webb (three goals) were the standouts for the Bulldogs, who have a chance to regroup with a bye this week.

● Leitchville-Gunbower is a step closer to its first HDFL finals appearance after coming from 20 points down at three quarter-time to beat Colbinabbin at M.J. Morgan Oval.

The Bombers had kicked just three goals to three quarter-time, but added five in the last term to run over the Grasshoppers and win 8.14 (62) to 8.5 (53).

The victory was the Bombers’ third in a row and moves them into fourth position on the ladder.

“We had the scoring end in the last quarter, but to be honest, I thought they may have done a bit too much damage in that third quarter when they got 20 points up,” Bombers coach Marty Shadbolt said.

“But the boys had a red-hot crack in that last quarter and were able to sneak over the line.”

With wins over Colbinabbin, White Hills and North Bendigo the past three weeks, the Bombers have now beaten three teams they lost to in the first half of the season.

“We’ve still got quite a few out, but out second-tier players are really stepping up and contributing,” Shadbolt said.

The Bombers’ side included Rory Woods making his senior debut, with the club now having used 40 senior players.

“Hopefully, we can settle the team down a bit over the next few weeks and if we can make the finals, be hitting our straps then,” Shadbolt said.

“The ball is in our court now and we’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing the past three weeks.”

The Bombers lost one of their standout players of the season, Jake Williams, to a knee injury during the third term.

Full-back Sam Hawkins, the consistent Jye Keath, Kade Merlo (two goals) and Shadbolt (two goals), who started at centre half-back before moving forward, were the Bombers’ best players.

Tom Hill, Darcy Booth, Tim O’Dwyer and Tim Holobowski battled hard for the  Grasshoppers. Sam Hill kicked three goals.

● White Hills gave flag favourites  Lockington-Bamawm United a scare in round six, but not this time.

The Cats continued their strong form in the lead-up to the finals with a 114-point belting of the Demons, 21.18 (144) to 5.0 (30), at Tint-a-Car Oval.

The win was the second in a row by more than 100 points for the Cats, who kicked 14 goals to two after half-time against a Demons’ side they have now beaten 13 times in a row.

“There’s a fair bit of pressure on the group for spots in the team for the finals, so everyone’s putting their best foot forward and that’s allowing us to play good football,” said Cats coach Kahl Oliver, who earlier in the day made his return from a hip-flexor injury in the reserves.

Simon Keleher usually has the kick-in duties from an opposition behind for the Cats, but again wasn’t required. White Hills’ score of 5.0 came after Mount Pleasant kicked 3.0 against the Cats a week earlier.

Youngster Marcus Angove, half-back Nathan O’Brien and gun onballer Matt Bongiovanni led the way for the Cats, while Ryan Jensen kicked five goals and Chris Hudson added four.

The Demons’ 114-point margin was 95 more than round six when they pushed the Cats to within nine points at Lockington.

Captain David Wright, ruckman Chris Novak and Matt Lehane, who played in defence, were the Demons’ better players.

“We attacked the ball well early and may have caught them off guard a bit, but we lapsed in the second quarter and they got on top,” Demons coach Shaun Makepeace said.

“It was disappointing the margin blew out to 114 points at the end of the game.”

Next week: Elmore v LBU, Colbinabbin v Huntly, White Hills v Heathcote, Mount Pleasant v Leitchville-Gunbower.

Ladder:

1. LBU (14-1, 193.4%)

2. Huntly (11-3, 154.8%)

3. North Bendigo (9-6, 115.2%)

4. Leitchville-Gunbower (7-7, 101.0%)

5. Colbinabbin (7-7, 93.9%)

6. Heathcote (7-7, 88.5%)

7. White Hills (5-9, 78.3%)

8. Mount Pleasant (3-11, 73.9%)

9. Elmore (1-13, 56.7%)

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