Gallery: GVL suffers heartache as O&M pinches interleague win in dying stages

The GV, which most pundits had written off before the 2.10pm start, came within minutes of pulling off an unlikely win — which would have ended a more than 10-year wait to claim the Ash-Wilson Trophy.

Echuca young gun and VFL talent Jack Evans was sensational all day and when he booted his fourth and final goal to put the underdogs up by five points, many pencilled the GV in for one of the most memorable wins in the history of this famed rivalry with the O&M.

Yet as the floodlights illuminated the home of many ex-GV stars, O&M found an extra gear with a reply only minutes later and when Dylan Stone found space and snapped truly it sealed the 13.14 (92) to 13.7 (85) win.

In that pulsating nine-goal final term the excitement and thrill of the spectacle, despite a small crowd, gave the exhibition match a finals-like atmosphere.

Speaking after the match, GVL coach Mark Lambourn was proud of the gallant and brave performance from his charges.

“When we hit the front I thought we were home and it couldn’t get much better than that, but to the credit of O&M they just kept going,” Lambourn said.

“(For us) to be down by six goals it would have been easy for the boys to turn into preservation mode and to the credit of them they turned it around.

“To be honest we weren’t that far off, we just missed some targets and I felt like we were millimetres from breaking the game open.

“We played high-risk and high-reward football and when we turned it over it hurt us, but that was the style we said we were going to play all along and the boys played it to perfection.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Both sides were understandably missing A-grade talents from each competition, but it didn’t affect the quality of a match that will be long remembered.

The hosts got the early jump on the visitors with key forward Leigh Williams looking ominous early on.

Despite only going inside 50 a couple of times the GV was mighty efficient and found its first from Evans.

However, it was all Ovens and Murray from there.

The boys in black and gold peppered the ball inside 50 off turnovers and chalked up a further five goals on the scoreboard and it felt a matter of not if they would win, but by how much.

Mansfield star Frazer Dale was brilliant across half-back and provided some relief from the onslaught, while Shepparton ruck Bryce Stephenson got on top of his opponents despite giving away some costly free kicks.

A 35-point deficit faced Lambourn and his outfit, but the message remained upbeat.

“Let’s just keep going boys, we’re not playing for four points, so we don’t need to save the game,” he said of the quarter-time address.

“I had faith in what we could achieve. Like I said, in the first we just weren’t quite there, but for the next three it was there.

“It just doesn’t pay to give sides a six-goal head start.”

From there the GV showcased why it’s still a breeding ground for star talents with the competition’s emerging 23-and-under contingent leading the way forward.

Echuca duo Evans and Aiden (AJ) Mills, the latter celebrating his 21st birthday, were pivotal up forward and down back.

Mansfield youngster and key tall Ben Christopher booted two goals and presented all day as a lead-up target.

Seymour’s Riley Mason competed in the air and was often found spoiling off half-back before presenting across half-forward seconds later.

Mason’s teammate Ben Rigoni, the reigning Morrison medallist, had his head over the ball in usual fashion, had an impact around stoppages and booted an electric roving goal late in the fourth term.

The older heads in the squad stood tall too.

Tatura’s Ethan Penrith was lively off half-back, Kyabram’s Kaine Herbert influential in the second quarter and captain Jack O’Sullivan lifted in the middle.

In the third term Shepparton United gun recruit Jayden Magro showcased his class skills and turned the match with back-to-back goals from 45m out on a tight angle — the second of them tied the contest late in the third.

Consecutive goals to start the fourth term gave the GVL a game-high lead of 15 points and it dared to dream.

But its hearts were given a dagger blow as O&M lifted late to steal victory and as the siren sounded you could sense the result hurt in GV players.

“They all just tweaked a little and that’s all we needed ... it didn’t get us the result we wanted, but it was bloody close,” Lambourn said.

Ovens and Murray talent Riley Bice was judged best-on-ground by the umpires.