Albury hold on to beat Corowa-Rutherglen by two points in an Ovens and Murray thriller

Missing co-coaches Luke Daly and Anthony Miles as well as Shaun Daly, Brayden O'Hara and Jim Grills, the Tigers were severely challenged by a Roos side who came into the game undefeated.

Albury trailed at the first two breaks but, led on the day by thirds coach Tom McGrath, they responded with five goals in the third term to hit the front.

In a nerve-shredding climax, there was almost a fairytale finish for Kade Kuschert on his record-breaking 334^th appearance for Corowa but his kick sailed wide to leave the Tigers celebrating a 12.10 (82) to 11.14 (80) victory.

"You could tell by the way they sung the song that it meant something," McGrath said.

"Yes, we had some senior players out but we had some really good kids come in and step up while the other guys that have been there stepped into the leadership positions.

"The pressure was fantastic all over the ground, we made a few mistakes but Corowa's pressure was really good too.

"A few of the supporters said that was one of the best games they've seen.

"We were probably lucky in the end to come away with the win but we had a really good third quarter to put us in that position."

Albury's reaction was the ultimate compliment to the progress Corowa have made under coach Peter German, with the majority of a 2500-strong crowd willing them on in the closing stages.

Jason Marks kicked a late goal to bring the margin back within one score but the Roos' first victory over Albury since 2008 remained tantalisingly out of reach.

"It went wrong for us in the third quarter," German admitted.

"They stretched us forward, they put the two Conlan boys down there and we've got some old legs and a bit of inexperience down there so that was a good move.

"They pushed all the young kids into their back half so it was going to be down to whether we could start winning the stoppages but we couldn't.

"Credit to our guys, we stuck at it, and if 'Kusch' kicks that goal, we possibly win the game.

"We might have got more inside-50s than they did, so we had our chances, but we wasted them."

Jacob Conlan kicked four goals for Albury while captain Michael Duncan produced one of his best performances down back.

"It's unbelievable," Duncan said.

"We didn't get to train on Tuesday because we didn't know how many blokes had COVID but we rolled into Thursday with an awesome attitude and we came here to get the job done.

"The way the boys responded late in the game, when the pressure was on, I couldn't be more proud of them.

"It's one of the best games we've had as a club in a long time.

"The way the boys showed up today was just unreal."

Corowa brought the heat early, with Jarred Lane's intercept which led to a Charlie Nastasi goal typifying their desperation, and Kaelan Bradtke booted two from range to give the Roos a reward for their effort.

But the Tigers never took a backward step and they reduced the deficit from nine points at quarter-time to just five at half-time off the back of some excellent pressure.

The home side were guilty of turning the ball over too often in the third quarter and Albury punished them, with the Conlan boys slotting four between them to shift the balance of power.

A frantic final term ramped up the atmosphere even more, with the Roos having all the momentum but failing to find their targets inside forward 50 as the visitors hung on.

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