Gallery: Seymour hands Echuca first loss of the season

Despite being under siege for majority of the final term, the Lions were able to shut the door on the competition powerhouse thanks to a lucky bounce that fell into Josh Alford’s lap in the goal square in the final minute of the match.

Alford’s goal was followed by one of the loudest roars by a crowd in recent memory as the Lions achieved a feat only one other side has accomplished in two seasons.

“I was very lucky to get on to that, it just had the right bounce back to me. A bit of junk time at the end,” Alford said with a laugh post-match.

“I was in the moment, I pointed to the crowd and just enjoyed it.”

Both outfits were without key and star personnel, Echuca missing more than a dozen premiership heroes and Seymour without five of its key walk-up starters.

It was a gruelling and heavily-contested encounter with neither side getting out beyond a three-goal lead.

Echuca brought the heat early and slammed home the opening couple of goals of the match, but Seymour was able to force contests and bring the ball to ground level which allowed the likes of Nathan Beattie and Jack O’Sullivan to thrive.

Jackson Stewart impressed with his zip and pace, while teammate Cooper Willoughby starred with three goals for Echuca.

Versatile tall Riley Mason used his engine to roam the ground and booted back-to-back goals in the second term to gift the hosts an eight-point buffer at the main break.

In the third quarter both sides traded blows, but it finished with Echuca star Sam Reid, nursing a knock to his knee sustained in the first quarter, booting a classy goal to bring the margin back to one-point at the final break.

Seymour coach Ben Davey urged his players to get the ball forward by any means necessary and to not worry about “being pretty” using the ball.

Captain Lachie Waite booted his second of the game with a booming roost that bounced through after four minutes in the last, followed by a clutch set-shot from Davey’s son Tom a minute later.

Echuca rallied and amongst a throng of inside 50 deliveries found a reply through Willoughby, who weaved his way around defenders to bring the margin back to seven.

Despite Echuca pressing and searching for a leveller, Seymour’s backline found a way to hold on.

“To see young guys really apply themselves so well to a plan, it just makes you really happy,” Davey said with a grin from ear-to-ear.

“Echuca is such a good team, we knew we weren’t going to just be gifted it.

“The message was all day, ‘you don’t have to win every single one (contest), you just have to win or halve them’ and make sure they don’t win more than you.

“It was never going to be beautiful football and there weren’t a lot of good passages, there were some, but a lot of stoppage and contested stuff. It was a real territory type of game.”

Davey applauded the “team performance”, but saved his praise for Mason, O’Sullivan and Beattie.

“Maso is very dangerous and he is very smart and he can smell a goal,” he said.

“There’s a few like that, Alford’s the same, Tom (Davey) and Nath (Beattie) as well, when it’s on and they can see it going, they’re out.

“Jack was super, Jay (Eager) in the ruck just does not stop and he gives it everything.

“The talls in ‘Chook’ (Nathan Fowler) and ‘Harts’ (Michael Hartley) did a good job in making it a contest and then in the backline just making a contest, Tom (Martin), ‘Coons’ (Ben Cooney), they are undersized and I’m just really proud of them.”

Saturday’s round 10 clash was Echuca’s first loss since round 18 last year and co-coach Simon Maddox conceded the better team won on the day.

“You can’t win every single week and if you don’t play good footy, you’re not going to win,” Maddox said.

“Credit to Seymour, they put us under pressure and we fell short.

“It wasn’t our best day at the office by any means. We made some blues, we made some mistakes, and if we had won the game it would have been a bit of a Houdini act.”