Shepparton South coach Rob Harmeston conceded he was a tad nervous when rival Shepparton United had a corner in the final minutes of a McEwen Reserve derby on Sunday.
Yes, his side was 3-2 up.
But had United already scored from a set piece to take the lead during the match? Also yes.
Thankfully for Harmeston’s heart rate, but unfortunately for the Blues, they could not capitalise from the chance and were forced to walk away without three points in the bag.
“They had a corner in the last minute, all the big boys came up and I just thought ‘oh no, not now after all that work’,” Harmeston said.
“But I thought we deserved the win overall, I thought we were the stronger side.
“They’re pretty strong on set pieces, but apart from that we nulled the other threats quite well I thought.”
With second place rights set as the stakes before the game, South started the brighter of the sides and hit the front during the ninth minute.
Nick Mori thrashed the ball past United custodian Goran Petrovski on the volley, but the Blues would restore parity in the moments leading into half-time.
The ever-deadly Ermal Marku fired in from close range after a disastrous mix up at the back and South would be undone not long after the break as Thomas Raditsas shot his side into the lead from a corner.
South needed a hero and, to answer the call as he’s done countless times before, Joel Aitken stepped up.
The instinctive striker converted a Sean Grant cross to equalise on the hour and Grant would then bail his side out of jail five minutes later as he tucked away a tidy cutback for the lead.
With South needing the result to stay in reach of Tatura, Harmeston spoke highly of the games of Shaun Kane and Aitken.
“I thought Shauny Kane had a really good game, he was really composed and ran the middle,” he said.
“And the work rate as well ― someone like ‘JA’ (set an example).
“Think back to three years ago, the guy’s knees were shot and he was talking about retiring and now he’s running around like a schoolkid.
“It’s great to see, his energy’s up and he’s running himself into the ground for the cause.
“He epitomises what you want from your forward, he might not score every week at the moment, but he’ still working so hard for the team, so you can’t say much more than that really.”
At Howley Oval, Tatura wasn’t going to let a puzzling 1-0 loss to Epsom repeat in the return fixture.
The Ibises had the game wrapped up by the break, with first half doubles to Thomas Leech and Cody Sellwood clinching a 4-0 victory
It keeps Tatura’s nose ahead of South by two points with a showdown against Shepparton United awaiting in the following round.
The division one women’s McEwen Reserve derby was night and day in comparison to the men’s scoreline as United popped the goals in for fun against its co-tenant.
Olivia Saron was doing the bulk of the damage, scoring four to supplement Maria Villani’s strike during the 5-0 rout.
Shepparton’s long drive to Swan Hill was well worth it as the Reds returned 4-2 victors in division two men, while Shepparton Lushi grabbed its second win of the season, beating Moama-Echuca Border Raiders 1-0.