Border Mail |LAVINGTON star Matt Pendergast made the most of his controversial interleague call-up to be one of the Ovens and Murray's best players against Peninsula.
Pendergast was outstanding at the stoppages late in the match as the host league fought its way back from a five-goal deficit to fall just short of snatching a memorable victory.
It was only his third match of the season after breaking his thumb in round one against Corowa-Rutherglen.
"I love playing interleague footy," Pendergast said.
"I have made friends for life with people like Craig (Ednie) and Brad Murray and wouldn't miss it for the world.
"It's a really disappointing result but we will keep boxing on."
Pendergast, along with Ednie, Sam Carpenter, Dean Polo and Joel Mackie, triggered the Ovens and Murray's last-quarter comeback and almost made Peninsula pay dearly for its inaccurate goal-kicking.
At half-time, the visitors had 16 scoring shots to five.
"It could have been a real mess," Pendergast said.
"To the boys credit we fought back but 15 minutes of footy isn't good enough.
"We had a few individuals early and Peninsula really gelled as a team.
"It's disappointing but we will shape up next year and go again."
It's a really disappointing result but we will keep boxing on."
