Blues do enough in shock finals win

Scepticism about Tongala’s chances of making a deep run in finals also increased after the Blues had a surprise 59-point loss at Finley in round 20.

But from the off, Jordan Souter’s side went stride for stride with its more fancied opponent.

A tense first quarter saw both teams kick inaccurately — a trend that would only worsen as the game wore on — with each posting 1.4 to be level at quarter-time.

Both sides found a more accurate touch in the second term.

Mulwala booted three of the first four majors in the period, opening up an 11-point gap, but the Blues came roaring back to close the first half.

Tongala kicked four of the next five before half-time to take a 6.8 (44) to 5.10 (40) lead into the main break.

Buoyed by their close to the second quarter, the Blues came out and took total control of the contest in the third.

Souter’s side would keep Muwala goalless in the term while adding 3.3 to its tally at the other end, Tongala on the cusp of victory as it was up by 22 points at three-quarter time.

“My feeling was that we outworked them, we worked harder than them and our pressure around the footy was pretty strong, and that was the opportunity to get a bit of a break on them,” Souter said.

But the contest would take on a dramatic late momentum shift, just as it did when the sides met three weeks ago in round 18.

On that occasion Mulwala came from 26 points down entering the fourth quarter to win by 20 come full-time, and Tongala almost succumbed to another late turnaround in Moama.

The Blues were under intense pressure to open the period, being fortunate that an inaccurate Lions side missed each of their first four scoring shots.

By the midway point in the quarter, Mulwala had booted two majors, bringing itself right back into the contest by only trailing 66-61 with ample time to play.

But Tongala held strong down the stretch, with one behind from the Blues being the only score during the final 10 minutes.

The Blues’ defensive effort was enough as it exorcised some regular season demons against the Lions while progressing to the semi-finals with a 9.13 (67) to 7.19 (61) win.

“We had massive buy-in yesterday from all 22 blokes, it was just a good team effort,” Souter said.

“Without being cocky or anything like that, it just felt like we were probably the better side on the day even though they had more scoring shots than us.

“It was our game to lose in the end, and we were lucky enough to hang on.”

Tongala will now play Nathalia in the second week of finals, the Purples having edged past Numurkah in the weekend’s other elimination encounter.

“Nathalia have got a really good finals record so they’re going to be up and about,” Souter said.

“They’ve got a good mix of experience and youth so they’re going to be pretty tricky to play.”