There was no shortage of thrilling contests in the Allan Matheson Shield at the weekend as sides scramble to fill the remaining top four positions.
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Tatura-Hill Top is now in the box seat to clinch a spot in the post-season following its gutsy win over East Shepparton.
A classy eight-shot victory on the road has the Bulldogs jump back inside the top four in the Goulburn Valley Playing Area’s weekend division one ladder.
The Eagles, who entered as red-hot favourites following their memorable win over Shepparton Golf, must now win this weekend and hope for other results to go their way in order to play finals.
With so much on the line, it’s little wonder Tatura-Hill Top coach Brendon Boyd was over the moon following the 15-92 to 4-84 triumph.
“I’m really rapt. It was a tough game, but I’m so proud of the performance from the group,” Boyd said.
“We knew it was a do-or-die match. If we lost then we were going to be out of finals contention.”
Despite the Eagles’ mentor Brent Reiner being “on fire” and putting on a stellar performance (35-18), Tatura-Hill Top was able to walk away with the chocolates.
John Gribble (25-22) stood up for East, while Tatura-Hill Top’s Nick Boyd (17-12) performed well.
The win was spearheaded by some brilliance from Peter and Josh Le Sueur, Greg Toy and Jason Carter (35-12).
Boyd praised the effort of his side’s talented rink.
“Peter’s rink all bowled really well,” he said.
“Even Nick (Boyd) and Olivia (Cartwright) did a great job; there was a few changes, but they really gelled together.
“I was really impressed with the team’s overall performance. It was fantastic.”
Around the greens, Euroa landed a potential knockout blow on Shepparton Park.
Euroa prevailed 14-95 to 4-93 in nail-biting fashion.
Andy Houston (23-18) and Tony Kingma (30-17) were Euroa’s winning rinks, while Josh Warren (23-20) and Denis Smyth (25-20) flew the flag for Park.
The result has Shepparton Park five points adrift of fourth-placed Tatura-Hill Top.
Tallygaroopna claimed a dominant and classy win over fellow top-four outfit Kyabram.
The Redlegs controlled the contest from start to finish as they skipped away to an 18-117 to 0-75 win.
Mark Ryan and his rink spearheaded the charge with a 39-16 triumph, followed by David Daws (29-18), Mitch Sidebottom (29-24) and Liam Crapper (20-17).
The defeat leaves Kyabram in a sticky situation in third place on the ladder and with a date against Shepparton Golf on the horizon.
Lastly, Stanhope was on the receiving end of a Shepparton Golf onslaught on Saturday.
Golf, which suffered its first defeat of the campaign the previous weekend, bounced back in pure style with a rollicking 61-shot triumph.
The drubbing was headlined by Golf coach Brad Orr, who returned from a week off with a mesmerising 41-16 rink win.
Fellow skips Connor Trewren (32-11) and John Stokes (31-13) got the job done, while Stanhope’s Tim Hancock saluted over Brett Foley (26-23).