Three times the home side came back from three goals behind to draw level, but was unable to muster a fourth.

United forward Jason Eagle proved the difference between the teams with an eight-goal haul, but the Echuca defence was far from disgraced by the output with all six players impressing throughout the day.

Jordan Williams had arguably his best game in green-and-white colours, with most of his 24 possessions hard-earned, while the returning Ben Mason was also superb in attacking the ball from the defence.

Sean Morris was busy around the packs and Florance was dominant in the ruck, taking a couple of towering marks in the last quarter.

Liam Wilkinson gathered 16 touches and was the team’s leading goal-kicker with three majors, while young defenders Matt Hay, Tom Monahan, Trent Castles and Brenton Jones were good.

Sean Christopher battled manfully against Eagle, Matt Pollock lifted in the last quarter as Echuca fought to re-take the lead and Josh Edgar tried hard all day.

For United, Eagle made the most of the chances given to him, while Tim Looby was superb with his long, raking kicks coming off half-back, gathering possessions at will.

If the sight of an ambulance on the field — which delayed the start of the game by 25 minutes after an incident in the reserves — affected any of the players, they certainly did not show it as both teams started with a high intensity.

The pressure caused mistakes to come from both sides and it was not until the 15th minute when Matt Forys kicked the first goal of the game.

Eagle made his first impact on the game two minutes later with a mark 15m out, before another goal to Forys saw the Demons quickly out to an 18-1 lead.

Echuca held firm and was then rewarded after a good passage of play, which saw Sam Devlin kick in front of Wilkinson, finish with a goal, as United led 19-7 at the first break.

After what had been a low-scoring opening term, both teams gave themselves more chances in front of goal the following quarter.

Morris goaled after the home team won the opening centre clearance, but Eagle immediately responded after turning his man once the bouncing ball had passed them.

Sam Burls then made the most of a 50m penalty and when Eagle goaled again, the margin was suddenly 22 points eight minutes into the term.

Again, Echuca came back and Alastair Evans did well to steady among a stream of traffic to convert, before Jordan Ives kicked truly when running into goal.

A good kick by Morris into space saw Wilkinson boot his second major and the team then showed what it was capable of with a coast-to-coast goal, with Tom Stevens and Earl Handy involved as Sam Toulmin kicked his first goal for the club.

The reasonably large crowd was up and about even more soon after when Wilkinson snapped the Murray Bombers’ fifth goal in a row to give the team the lead.

A superb chase down and tackle from Ives looked to have earned the home side a half-time lead, before a couple of good late goals to Eagle gave the Demons a 53-46 lead.

The full-forward picked up where he left off with the first two goals of the third term to give his team a 23-point lead, but again Echuca fought back and stand-in captain Nick Jackson’s first goal saw the margin rest at 16 points going into the last quarter.

The Murray Bombers started the fourth term well with a great team move finishing with a goal to Jackson, before the Demons settled.

Forys, who had been unsighted since the first quarter, started to get back into the game but finished the term with four shots at goal for three behinds.

Repeat entries inside the forward 50m saw Eagle finally benefit again, extending the lead to 19.

The home side still had one more charge left in it though as Florance took a strong mark 30m out and goal, before a Stevens major from the next centre clearance pulled the gap back to six.

Florance then had the chance to goal again but was unable to convert and a long goal from United captain Sam Dawes re-established the buffer.

Eagle finished the match with his eighth goal as his team ran out 17-point winners.

■The Demons won the reserves match by a massive margin, but the story of the day was the injury to player Harrison Osborn, who had to be taken to hospital after having a seizure onfield.

Osborn took a knock to the head during a tackle and then went to ground about 10 minutes into the last quarter.

The 20-year-old, who suffers from seizures, last had one about two years ago and was expected to recover fully.

The youngster was under good care immediately as reserves Demons player Reece Cordy, who is a doctor, immediately attended to him with both clubs’ staff until paramedics arrived.

United finished 17.9(111) to 2.3(15) winners, with George Preston, Keaton Male and Nick Castles the best for the home side.