The tactic ultimately earned the Magpies many shots on goal and the margin should have been much greater as they had 13 more scoring shots than the home side.

Echuca’s Matt Pollock worked hard all day to gather 27 possessions in the midfield, while playmakers Simon Buckley and Rhys Archard again showed superb touch with the ball and were instrumental in Echuca’s prominence early in the game.

The pair had more than 40 touches between them in the opening half, with Archard’s three goals all coming during that time, but were only allowed a further 16 possessions on the home stretch.

Part of the reason behind Buckley’s reduced output was through the efforts of Brad Cunningham, who took more of a hard tag role in the second half and also saw Buckley in the hands of trainers before half-time after an altercation before a marking contest.

Tom Stevens and Josh Edgar worked hard throughout the day, while Tom Monahan again impressed in defence, often getting a vital fist in to spoil the ball.

Jordan Williams could not find the ball as much as in previous weeks and looked to be hampered by his knee injury, while Nick Jackson and Sean Morris also did not have as big an impact as they would have liked.

For the visitors, Craig Bamford, Gareth Fricker and David King impressed through the midfield, while forwards Luke Hyatt and Jake McBean presented well but failed to make the most of their scoring chances.

On what was a fine day with a constant cross field breeze, Euroa was the first team on the board but Archard kicked the first goal after great delivery from Morris.

Buckley and Archard stood out with clean disposal among teammates who were not as affective, while King was also busy for the Magpies.

McBean levelled the scores for the visitors, but an Archard set shot and a major from a goal mouth scramble to returning captain Brendan Prendergast saw Echuca with a handy lead, before a bouncing goal from Ben Hayes in the 23rd minute kept the margin to five points at the first break.

Echuca coach Cameron Stewart was pleased with his charges’ pressure in the forward line and the team’s good work was rewarded again early in the second term.

Buckley instigated a great mark as he burnt off an opponent with pace before delivering a long handball to Archard who, sensing incoming danger, deftly tapped the ball on to Morris and the ball ended up in the hands of Pollock.

Stevens wandered free 25m from goal and he duly received the ball and gave Echuca a 28-16 lead.

A sustained period of Euroa pressure finally resulted in a goal for Matt Ivill as the Magpies started to gain momentum.

Tyson Biffin showed great pace for the visitors while Sam Devlin was also busy for Echuca, gathering eight touches in the second term.

Under pressure, it was again Buckley who provided an out let for the Murray Bombers as he streamed through the middle of the ground and kicked long to Archard, who outbodied his opponent to mark and goal.

The visitors were not done yet though but were erroneous in front of goal, kicking 1.6 for the quarter as Echuca led 35-28 at the long break.

While the tackling pressure and intensity had lifted the game to a tight contest during the second term, it was Euroa who came out of the rooms with real drive in the third quarter.

The Magpies levelled the scores quickly after a poor kick-out and then hit the front for the first time since the opening minutes of the game when King goaled with a long snap, just moments after young Murray Bomber Dylan Friedberger took a hanger at half-back.

Echuca replied almost immediately as Archard and Prendergast combined to find Edgar, before the game regressed to a scrappy encounter.

Devlin then produced a classy goal to give the home team back the lead, making a sharp turn to evade one tackler before finishing off, but the Magpies came again.

In a telling patch of play, the visitors slammed on three goals in four minutes to take a 62-47 lead at the final break after winning seven of the eight centre clearances that term.

If the Murray Bombers were to win the game, they needed the first goals of the quarter but it was not to be, with King and Cunningham majors pushing the margin out to 28 points in the first 10 minutes.

Goals to Jackson and Pollock briefly raised hopes of a comeback for Echuca but the team could not keep pushing despite the best efforts of Ben Mason, ultimately losing by 23 points.