The Standard | A three-quarter-time reminder about the virtues of taking responsibility was the spark Dennington needed to see off a gutsy Kolora-Noorat.
The Dogs remain second on the Warrnambool and District league ladder thanks to their 13.17 (95) to 8.13 (61) win at Noorat Recreation Reserve.
They led by 29 points at half-time but found themselves on the back foot as the Power cut the margin to 14 with a 6.3 to 4.0 third term.
But goals to Luke Duncan, Jake Boyle and Kurt Smith prevented the upset and ensured Darcy Lewis’ side remains in contention for the minor premiership.
Lewis admitted his men were “flat” immediately after half-time before coming to life as the threat of defeat crept in.
“We kept chipping away at it. Having that loss to Collegians (in round five) was a good one for us to refer back to,” Lewis said.
“Playing a side below you on the ladder doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to happen. Against Collegians we were down and the general feel I got was ‘we’ll be right, we’ll kick a couple of goals and we’ll get back into it’.
“But it never happened. That was a point everyone was well aware of today. It won’t happen unless we lift our work rate. Everyone found something.”
Lewis was pleased to see “everyone was spent” at the siren. “It was pretty black and white when we were good and when we were poor,” he said.
Former Cobden onballer Leigh Evans was the Dogs’ best, helping curtail the damaging Joe Kenna but also having a positive impact going forward.
Forwards Chris Keilar (four goals), Boyle (three) and Clinton Hall and onballer Jordan Green were among their leading contributors.
Lewis also played up the efforts of the Dogs’ back line, led by Tim Chatfield, Duncan, Luke Moutray and Chris Vickery.
“There were a couple of times the ball went in to them with no pressure on the entry, that put us under a fair bit of pressure,” he said.
Power onballer Jono Gleeson earned best-player honours for his side and kicked two goals. Joe O’Sullivan and Matt Harkin also added two each.
Kenna worked hard in the midfield, ruckman Jake Richardson was prominent against Justin Wallace while Justin Hicks earned credit for his job on Lewis.
The Power stayed sixth on the ladder, equal on points with fifth-ranked Nirranda and seventh-ranked South Rovers.
