The Saints continue to impress in the O&M’s senior football competition, with Myrtleford handing the struggling Albury Tigers a 27-point loss on their own deck.

After a contested first half, the Saints were able to run out winners 13.11 (89) to Albury’s 9.8 (62).

It’s the third straight time the Saints have taken the four points from the Sportsground in what’s become a lovely little hunting ground for Myrtleford.

The two teams would go goal for goal through the first half, with neither outfit able to gain any legitimate ascendancy on the scoreboard.

While Myrtleford had the lions’ share of chances in front of goal, they could only manage a 10-point lead at the half, 5.9 (39) to 4.5 (29).

The third quarter was where the game was won.

After the opening 10 minutes of the term saw the give and take nature of the match continue, Myrtleford’s Jye Gribbin took a massive pack mark at the top of the square and kicked true, triggering the onslaught to follow.

Ryley Smith, Cy Banks, Brody Ricardi and Lachlan Murphy-Dale all booted majors in a damaging 10-minute period, giving Myrtleford a more comfortable 32-point buffer heading into the final quarter, which the Saints were able to manage to take the win.

Myrtleford coach Craig Millar said the team performed well against a side who may not have the wins on the board they deserve.

“It was an interesting game of footy – low scoring, a lot of contested work, but I was really rapt we were able to get the game open through some hard running in the third quarter, that really set the game up for us,” he said.

“I think there were some parts of the game where it was just an ugly spectacle there, that was a credit to both team’s defences, to be honest, and scoring was difficult.

“Some looks that have been a bit different over the past few weeks, we couldn’t cash in on it, but by and large, once the game opened up, we thought we had to wear them down, and I was pleased we were able to do that.

“It led to some more free, open-flow footy, and we were able to score from that.

“Our contested game numbers have been really good over the last month, that’s been an area we really wanted to work on.

“Once we got our running game going, it was really pleasing to see.”

The regular stars of the Saints line-up kept shining – Simon Curtis racked up 28 disposals and 11 marks as the highest rated player on the ground, Jaxon east found the ball at will and kicked two goals, while the towering duo of Riley Smith (three goals) and Jye Gribbin (one goal, 25 hitouts) worked perfectly in sync.

Millar said Gribbin had grown in leaps and bounds over the years.

“He’s been in our program for a fair while as a Myrtleford junior, he’s around that 25-year-old bracket where he’s starting to hit his peak,” he said.

“His ruck stuff’s been super but when he’s gone forward he’s been taking these big marks and kicking goals, that’s been the real growth in his game, he’s been working really hard on that at training, and it’s just great he’s getting a bit of reward for his effort.

“Ashton McPherson’s strung together a really good start to the year, Lachy Murphy-Dale, while he hasn’t been hitting the scoreboard like he has in the past, he’s just so lively in the front half, and his score assists and goal involvement’s been high.

“Everyone’s chiming in and doing their bit, and that’s led to a couple of positive results.”

The Saints host Wodonga Raiders this weekend in their last match ahead of the bye.

Millar confirmed they wouldn’t be taking the current wooden-spooners lightly.

“While they’ve had a couple of results which have been disappointing from their end, but by and large, they’ve been in most of their games,” he said.

“We’re not going to leave anything to chance, we’ll prepare the same way, pick the strongest team available, no one will be rested.

“We want to throw everything we can at them, and go into the bye knowing we’ve done everything new can to try and win the game.”

In other grades, the reserves went down 7.4 (46) to 17.20 (122), and the thirds lost 5.3 (33) to 10.14 (74).

OAK FM votes: Round 11

Albury vs Myrtleford: 5 R. Smith (Myrt), 4 S. Curtis (Myrt), 3 A. McPherson (Myrt), 2 M. Walker (Alb), 1 J. East (Myrt).

Leaderboard: R. Smith (Myrt) 31, W. Wheeler (Yarra) 27, S. Murray (Rov) 24.