Melton South was left to rue a missed opportunity against Sunbury Lions in the Ballarat Football League on Saturday.
The Panthers had their chances to seal their first win of the season early on against the Lions, but fell short at the final siren.
Two late goals to Lions forward Grant Valles gave them the 13.9 (87)-9.16 (70) win.
Panthers co-coach Ash Manning said there was a couple of key moments in which the Lions had been better and that proved the difference.
The Panthers only led by 10 points at the main break, despite having 10 more scoring shots.
“I thought we dominated the second quarter, and we kicked 5.7,” Manning said.
“A few little incidents went against us or we did the wrong thing with a couple of undisciplined acts that probably hurt us, along with our goalkicking.
“We missed a couple real easy ones that might have put us three to four goals in front and might have dented the opposition, but as it turns out, we kept them in the game and they came over the top.”
Manning said they got back to within four points in the final quarter and needed the next goal if they were going to get the win, but it didn’t happen.
Ben Sortino, Reece Miles and Mark Lynch were the Panthers’ best in the loss.
Manning said defenders Daniel Hillier and Lachlan Watkins were also among their best.
He said it was tough for their defenders at the moment, as they lack size at that end of the ground.
“We couldn’t defend the high ball in, we tried to,” he said. “Hiller played his guts out, but our backs were against the wall.
“Cody Ogston, who played full-back last week, didn’t play and we were already a key defender down.
“Craig Searle carried an injury into the game, but we had to risk him.
“Injuries aren’t an excuse, but we’re probably lacking a key defender and were found out.”
Manning said the one positive out of the match was that their effort improved from the week before against Melton.
“We certainly brought more effort this week which was pleasing,” he said. “Last week we were non-competitive and we weren’t in the game. We focused on a few things we wanted to do and I think we did them well. The effort was pleasing, but not the outcome we wanted.”
The Panthers have a bye this weekend, before they face Bacchus Marsh.
Manning said they were hoping to have one big inclusion for that match – Brendan Fevola should be back after serving a suspension.
He said if Fevola had played at the weekend the result against Sunbury would have been different.
“We had to put Mitch Golby at full forward. Probably my first four choices for full forward were out for one reason or another [on Saturday].”
