By all rights, they shouldn’t have won that.

They finished the match -11 in clearances, -26 in inside 50s, but most importantly, +1 on the scoreboard.

Myrtleford’s senior footballers will be thanking their lucky stars after their 8.5 (53) to 6.16 (52) win over North Albury on the road, the first time since 2022 the Saints have taken the points home from Bunton Park against the Hoppers.

The two sides were within a kick of each other at each of the main breaks, but in many ways, Myrtleford were kept in the contest thanks to North Albury’s woeful execution inside forward 50.

The Hoppers would send the ball goalward time and time again, only for it to be killed over the line by the Myrtleford defence, or drift through for a minor score.

Take the third quarter – Myrtleford came out of the rooms with a slim two-point lead despite North Albury dominating play, and the Hoppers controlled the flow of the game only to kick 1.5 for the term, as opposed to the Saints’ two goals straight, thanks to Cy Banks and Jye Gribbin.

North Albury’s Tim Broomhead laced his kicking boots on in the fourth quarter, kicking back-to-back goals to put the Hoppers in front, but two goals in a minute from second-gamer Jake Riley kept the Saints in view.

A goal from Josh Muraca in the 23rd minute saw the margin stretch to nine points, but the Hoppers would bring it back to three with time draining rapidly.

The Saints would desperately defend, and while two minor scores slipped through, Myrtleford were the ones on top at the final siren.

Myrtleford coach Craig Millar said they got lucky in many ways.

“We were up at half-time, but there were some inaccuracies in front of goal on their end,” he said.

“There are a couple of different ways you can look at that: you can at the pressure that’s applied and the types of kicks that were taken, but by and large we were lucky we were in front at half-time, and I think we were incredibly fortunate to be in front at the final siren.

“I was incredibly proud of the way we were able to fight back, 15-17 minutes into the last quarter they were nine points up and we had no momentum.

“We tried a few things, we got a bit of a reaction, and the grit and resolve of the group meant we were able to find a way to kick some goals.

“The reality was we kept turning the ball over, and you can’t turn the ball over in the back half of the ground.

“The data showed it was 11 turnovers to two in the back half of the ground, we were turning the ball over in critical parts, and North Albury were able to score – we were lucky their scoring opportunities didn’t result in goals.”

Ashton McPherson was influential for the Saints, finishing with 30 touches and two goals, while defender Zac Pethybridge was resolute down back, and big Jye Gribbin did a fantastic job covering for the injured Riley Smith, finishing with 36 hitouts and a goal.

“Smithy was a late out, and Jye came in, in not ideal conditions for your big fella, but as the game evolved it started to dry and out and moved to a dry weather game – his contested stuff was really good,” Millar said.

The result was more definitive in the earlier matches, with the Saints reserves 10 goals too good for the Hoppers, 12.11 (83) to 3.5 (23), while the thirds lost by 18 points, 2.4 (17) to 4.11 (35).

Myrtleford returns home this weekend for a blockbuster King’s Birthday weekend showdown with Wangaratta, in what’s sure to be a spectacle.

The two sides sit in the top three on the ladder, with Magpies saluting by 51 points in the reverse fixture.

Millar said it was a massive match.

“It’s an important game for us, there’s no doubt about it,” he said.

“They’re in super form at the moment, they’re clearly sitting second on the ladder for a reason, so we’re going to need top play well.

“We need to get on top of some parts of our game which haven’t been at the level they need to be – if we don’t do that, we could get a similar result [to last time], so we need to make sure we dial ourselves up for the contest.”

Football commences at McNamara Reserve this Saturday 6 June, with thirds football from 10am, reserves from 12pm, and the seniors from 2pm.

OAK FM votes: Round 7

North Albury vs Myrtleford: 5 A. McPherson (Myrt), 4 T. Broomhead (NA), 3 J. Penny (NA), 2 M. Dalbosco (Myrt) 1 B. Rigoni (NA).

Leaderboard: R. Smith (Myrt) 21, J. Gaynor (Alb) 19.