Sweet relief for Shepparton United as Demons hold firm at home to beat Benalla

A blustery beginning provided the host with literal wind in its sails, with seven first-quarter majors proving enough for Duane Hueston’s men to tack on towards a 15.14 (104) to 9.10 (64) victory.

“As I said to the players after the game and throughout the game, we played a really good brand of football,” Hueston said.

“Right from the start, our first and second quarters were excellent with the style we wanted to play.

“The third, Benalla put the pressure on and were able to stop our run, and in the fourth quarter we sort of let ourselves down a little bit, but were able to swing that momentum back late in the game and steady.

“Our ability to hit up the short kick and have the runners coming by worked really well for us today.”

Ironically, United got under way with the furthest thing from a short kick.

Jesse Cucinotta bombed one off his lime green boot from 50 to kick off the day — but a bombshell of a different variety soon arrived after.

Kyle Clarke went careening into the boards behind the goals, eliciting a nasty shudder upon impact from which the Demon was forced from the park and eventually taken to hospital with a sickening head wound.

After a minor break, it was back to business for United.

Wind played a heavy factor as the home side wreaked havoc on Benalla, forcing errors as the Saints struggled to break out of their defensive 50 for the first 10 minutes.

Jack McCartney and Liam Serra were doing work for the Demons up forward and, soon, United was up by almost 50 at the first change of ends following a mammoth 35 minute quarter.

In the second term, Serra got the train rolling again after a dormant first five and despite a pair of Benalla goals, the muffled celebrations indicated the state of affairs.

United’s shortened kicking game against the wind stifled Benalla’s potential run on, and up the other end the Saints were missing some usually gettable kicks.

However, Patrick Warner was able to provide some late joy and added his second near the half-time siren.

United took the reins again throughout the early stages of the third term, surging ahead with a trio of goals, but it seemed the game’s ebb and flow had come to a grinding halt with little noise left from the lines.

Cue Benalla, which brought the boom right back in the last.

Will O’Donoghue and Tyler McGregor kicked truly within a minute of each other, and another from Wade King had the travelling fans chirping for good reason.

But the best was yet to come.

Aaron Blackburn went knee over shoulders for the Saints, taking a highlight reel-worthy mark and converting with style to inject more confidence into Benalla.

However, Kaedyn Napier booted one back down the other end to curtail the Saints’ resurgence, all but sealing an almost perfect day at the office for United.

Hueston said while there were creases to iron out from the fourth quarter, his side’s second quarter effort was “the best brand of football for the whole year”.

“It showcased what we’re capable of, and the more confidence we get, we’ll be able to perform that way more consistently over a four-quarter effort rather than have a three-quarter game,” he said.

“Benalla started to win the clearances out of the middle (in the fourth quarter) and got momentum, and once you get momentum in a game of football it’s very hard to stop.

“To our boys’ credit, they wrestled that back and kicked a goal against the flow which steadied the flow.

“But it’s more of a mindset thing, as soon as the opposition get one goal then two then it’s almost like here we go again.

“It’s trying to shift their mindset to what’s next, where’s my opponent, what’s my role, what do I have to do and still stay to our structure.”

On the opposite front, Benalla playing coach Jarrad Waite, who did not feature on the day, lamented his outfit’s slow emergence from the blocks going against the gust.

“Coming into today, we were really focused on our first quarter; I think we were 47 points down at quarter-time — we had a couple of opportunities on goal and we missed them,” he said.

“Three or four of their goals were just from decision making errors from us and it puts them in the lead.

“Especially in conditions like this and playing away, we sort of fought back, but you can’t give away a 47-point lead to anyone these days.

“We just didn’t show up and they did and that was basically it in a nutshell.

“I’m happy with their effort in the second half, but still not happy with the way we were in the first quarter.”

Serra was best on for United with four goals, while Ed Adams and McCartney had three.

Meanwhile, Christopher Welsh headlined the Saints’ best and Warner also finished the day with three majors.