Ovens Valley United managed just the one win from their opening two matches of the WDCA A grade T20 competition, both played on Saturday at McNamara Reserve.

The Tigers picked up a 73-run win over City Colts before falling by just five runs to Beechworth Wanderers.

Hosting the Colts from 12.30pm, Ovens Valley posted a competitive 8/142 before knocking the Colts over for 69 inside 18 overs.

Skipper Seamus Phillips led the way at the top of the order, stroking a match-defining 76 from just 53 deliveries.

While only Cooper Thomason (12 from 15) and Geeth Alwis (17 from 21) were able to make double digits, every batter chipped in.

When Phillips was finally removed off the last ball of the 19th over, the Tigers were 6/131, Michael Elliott, Nick Impink, and Joe Monk were able to push the total as high as possible, with Monk hitting his first ball, the last of the innings, for six.

The Tigers needed to keep the Colts under 7.15 runs an over for the entire match, with early wickets the perfect way to put pressure on the batting team.

Monk obliged, sending the sixth ball of the innings into the top of middle stump after conceding two boundaries, the Colts one down early.

After Monk picked up a second, Noah White and Michael Elliott came into the attack and tore through the top order.

Once Kent Braden holed out to Daniel Saville on the leg side boundary for in the ninth over, the young Colts tail order was exposed.

Elliott was the damage dealer, finishing with 4/11 from his four overs, while Geeth Alwis (1/14 from four) and Daniel Saville (1/2 off 1.2) bowled well with great impact.

“Runs on the board and early wickets, once you get a few early ones, it just slows them down – when you need seven an over, it’s pretty hard going,” Phillips said.

“It was nice to hit a bit of form, I felt good against Yarra and got run out, so it was nice to not have to wait too long to post a big score.

“We bowled super tight - that was the goal, we were happy to give them ones but we wanted to reduce the boundary balls, and everyone did that really well against Colts.”

With on win in the bank, the Tigers had to back it up and take on Beechworth, but errors in the field ended up being costly.

Beechworth posted 7/138 off the back off an unbeaten 74* from 58 balls from Brenton Surrey, who was dropped while on 14 early in his innings.

In response, the Tigers managed to get agonisingly close, sitting at 7/133 from their 20 overs.

While Daniel Saville (63* from 55 balls) and Cooper Thomason (30 from 22) were courageous with the bat, fatigue had set in, with no other batter making more than seven.

“The second game was a little disappointing, we probably gave Beechworth 10-15 runs too many, and in T20s, every run counts,” Phillips said.

“That was literally the difference between us winning and losing - someone just needed to bat a little bit longer with Saville, and we would’ve won that game, I reckon.

“To make 130 in the second innings chasing 140 I thought was a pretty good effort, considering it was a long day and everyone was pretty exhausted by the end of it.”

The Tigers will need to win their remaining two matches to have any hope of making the grand final, with their next encounter a home game against Rovers United Bruck at McNamara Reserve on Saturday, 6 December.