Border Mail | IT was a good, old-fashioned classic contest between teams that have forged a fierce rivalry.
Albury and Yarrawonga went head to head in a match that thrilled a huge crowd.
And the Tigers again showed they are a class above with a come-from-behind 24-point win at J.C. Lowe Oval.
The Pigeons’ opening blitz rocked the Tigers.
With co-coach Brendan Fevola landing three early goals, Brandon Symes dominating the ruck, Wade Lees on top of Brayden O’Hara and Tyler Bonat, Connor Hargreaves and Rick Barnes solid in defence, the home team raced to a 31 points quarter-time lead.
But with Aisake o’hAilpin and co-coach Chris Hyde moving on to the ball, the Tigers grabbed the momentum to trail by only a point at half-time.
Man of the match Dean Polo brilliantly read two soft intercepts for goals and Will Blomeley and Elliott Powell provided hardness and pace around the contest.
O’hAilpin and Symes produced a classic clash with the Irishman’s two goals when resting giving Albury a five-point lead at three quarter-time.
The Pigeons hit back with Symes goal giving them the lead again, but when Joel Mackie, who was well held by Matt Gorman, goalled after eight minutes, the Tigers’ class shone with four goals to one. That ensured the Pigeons’ first back-to-back losses since 2011.
The Tigers’ plan of playing one-on-one, grinding football was impressive.
“I couldn’t be happier with the way we responded,” injured Albury co-coach Daniel Maher said.
“Blowing teams out of the water is a thing of the past Our style of play has changed and the landscape of the club has changed.
Pigeons co-coach Drew Barnes said he was pleased they had a team that competed all day.
“Give Albury five minutes, which we did a couple of times, and they hurt you,” he said.
“It was pretty positive considering we had seven players who have played less than 10 games.”
