Coleambally dodged a danger game at Barellan on Saturday, moving back into fifth spot with a hard-fought 15-point win.
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After Barellan snatched victory in the last minute at Coleambally earlier this year, the Blues had revenge as well as a crucial four points in mind, and carefully crafted out a 10.10 (70) to 8.7 (55) win.
It could come at a cost with Raven Marika re-injuring his hamstring and in danger of missing the rest of the home-and-away season.
The result put Coleambally narrowly ahead of the Northern Jets on percentage, although the game took some time to put away.
Barellan led for much of the first quarter and again early in the second before Coleambally went 10 points up at half-time. For almost the entire second half, the margin swung between just a goal or two, as the home side continued to challenge.
The teams went goal for goal in the last term but without kicking two in a row, Barellan couldn't close the gap. Curtis Steele capped a strong game kicking Coleambally's last two goals to get them home.
"It's always tough, us and Barellan. They're always hard to shake and keep coming. We found that out (last time) and didn't want that to happen again so it was good to be on the right side of it," Coleambally co-coach Mitch Carroll said.
Carroll felt there was plenty of room for improvement in the way the Blues moved the ball into their forward line but said they started to rectify it as the game went on.
Backman Todd Clark had an outstanding game, regularly turning Barellan around while Graham O'Connell was strong in the midfield and dangerous forward.
For Barellan, defender Shaun Bourchier worked hard throughout while Ben Maiden was dangerous on a wing and Sean Browning (two goals) and Sean Ellis (three) did all they could to lift the Two Blues.
It was two straight wins for Coleambally, and maximum points so far in July with last week's bye.
They're at home to ladder leaders North Wagga next week, before tackling the Jets, also at home, in round 16.
"We've just got to keep winning," Carroll said. "Obviously percentage is tight and we still have to play each other. But hopefully we can keep ticking them off. We get a couple of home games so hopefully we can keep playing well."
Coleambally's last two games are at Marrar and CSU.
The Jets play Temora, Coleambally, CSU and North Wagga in their last four games.
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