Dederang-Mount Beauty’s senior side braved the elements at Beechworth last Saturday and were defeated by 16 points in a low-scoring contest.

Ground and weather conditions made for a tough slog all afternoon and goals were like gold at Beechworth’s Baarmutha Park, as shown in the 4.5 (29) to 7.3 (45) Bombers’ loss.

Beechworth dominated territory in the early stages and capitalised with the only three goals of the opening term and the first two goals of the second to open a 30-point lead, before the Bombers kicked their first and only major for the half just before the long break.

A 35-point advantage in favour of Beechworth was never going to be chased down but to their credit, DMB ran out the game extremely well and kicked the final three goals of the match.

Unfortunately for the Bombers, it was too little, too late, as they went down by less than three goals in the end.

There were 11 individual goalkickers and 11 goals scored in total – for Dederang-Mount Beauty, Jaydn Chalmers, Charlie Connors, playing coach Josh Kable and Paul Riccardi all hit the scoreboard, while Clancy Lloyd, Tom McGhee, and Callum Bowring got their hands dirty and featured prominently.

Showing the football program is heading in the right direction, this is the third straight game in which the margin was under 20 points, while their reserves side won a thriller by six points, which was their second victory for the season.

The A grade Bombers on court enjoyed the damp day much more if the scoreboard influenced their mood by downing the Bushrangers at home by 22 goals, 55-33.

Their first win since round six, despite playing solid netball against quality opposition in recent weeks, was just reward and means that they have leapfrogged Beechworth and Wahgunyah into eighth spot on the Tallangatta league ladder.

Audrey Barker (41 goals at 80 per cent) easily surpassed her season’s best in regard to total goals and accuracy, while Keely Bullivant added 12 goals and created plenty of scoring chances throughout the match.

Another away trip, this time to Mitta, is the venue of two winnable matches for Dederang Mount-Beauty’s best football and netball teams, who will travel with confidence this Saturday.