A goalless first half came back to haunt Melton in the Ballarat Football League on Saturday night.
The Bloods went down to Sunbury by 14 points in a loss that coach Brad Murphy described as extremely frustrating.
Melton had plenty of opportunities to hit the scoreboard early, but undisciplined acts cost it dearly.
But Sunbury was unable to take full advantage, kicking 4.10 to leave the comeback door ajar for Melton.
PICTURE GALLERY: MELTON V SUNBURY LIONS
The Bloods found their feet in the second term to grab the momentum and when they kicked four goals to one in the third term and made a hot start to the final quarter, their four- point lead looked likely to extend.
But Sunbury hit back with four late goals to wrestle back control and secure the 9.16 (70) – 8.8 (56) win.
Murphy said his side had to be able to play at the same level for four quarters.
“We gave the boys a bit of a rev-up and an old-fashioned spray at half-time,” he said.
“I also mentioned that Sunbury was down to one rotation. They lost some guys who weren’t going to be able to come back on.
“I thought that would be a factor on the biggest ground in the competition, so we made mention of that.
“We piled it on in the third quarter, kicking four goals, and in the wet that’s a pretty good effort.
“We had a good last quarter but just couldn’t hang on.”
Jake Gleeson was impressive for Melton, kicking one goal and winning numerous key contests around the ground.
Along with Jack Walker and Dillon Sharp, Gleeson was named among the best players.
Melton will have a strong chance to get back on the winners’ list against Sebastopol this week, although Sebastopol will go into the game with some confidence after a solid win against Melton South at the weekend.
Murphy says his side will have to be on its game from the first bounce.
“They had that first win of the year so they will obviously be pretty excited with that. They have Brett Goodes playing for them this season. A year ago he was playing AFL with the Bulldogs, so we’re going to have our work cut out. We know it will be a tough game and we’ll need effort and intensity from the start.”
In other BFL round two results, North Ballarat defeated Redan in a two-point thriller, while Ballarat got the better of East Point by nine.
