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THIS was never what the script had planned.
Queenscliff's history-making winning run has ended with an upset loss at the hands of Drysdale by seven points in the BFL second semi-final.
After going through the regular season undefeated, the Coutas slipped up in their first finals match for 2013 with a lacklustre first quarter, allowing Drysdale to get a six-goal jump and a winning lead that it never let go all game.
Queenscliff coach Tom Limb admitted the loss was a "pretty big wake up call" for his team.
"I'm not sure what you put it down to, but when you go through a season and you haven't dropped a game, suddenly guys maybe start to (get complacent).
"You look at our side on paper and it's a pretty good side, so they start to maybe rely on and think everyone else is kind of going to do it for them.
"When you play quality sides in finals footy, you've got to come switched on and ready to play.
"To allow them to kick six goals in the first quarter just shows we weren't switched on (and) ready today."
The Coutas did peg back Drysdale's blistering opening term lead to just three points at the main break, but could never hit the front.
Drysdale held the Coutas goalless in the third term, before locking down defensively in the last to prevent any chance of a comeback.
"Once we got within seven points, they steadied and kicked another one," Limb said.
"We just left our run too late, we just need people to stand up a bit quicker and react."
Limb doesn't subscribe to the theory that this was a loss his side needed to have.
"I don't think you need a loss, I do think you learn a lot from it though," he said. "We've got to look at the positives - we now get to play another game, so we get another game under our belt."
The Coutas meet the winner of Geelong Amateur and Ocean Grove in the preliminary final.
While they have had the wood over both sides fairly significantly this season, Limb is not taking anything lightly.
"It's pressure no matter what game you're playing," Limb said.
"We've just got to focus on what we can control.
"It doesn't matter who we're playing or how they come prepared, we've got to make sure we're prepared to play and that's our focus for this week."
