Despite not playing their best football at times this year the Lions keep finding ways to win in the Goulburn Valley League senior football competition, and it was the case again on Saturday, as they clinched a 10.22 (82) to 9.5 (59) victory over a plucky Benalla at Kings Park.
Having had a run of three straight wins stopped the previous week by a hot Shepparton outfit, falling by 45 points despite being in the fight halfway through the fourth term, Seymour was out to make amends in round 13, and made a bright start to the contest against the Saints.
Nic Quigg opened the scoring early for the Lions, who peppered the goals regularly without success until Huw Jones added a second, opening up a 15-0 lead in what was an impressive start to the game.
But Benalla, despite being without a win since round six, has challenged sides over the past month, and looked up to the task early against the Lions, making the first two shots it had on goal count to cut Seymour’s advantage to three points.
The two sides would trade goals to end the term, though the Lions would stretch the advantage out to five points by the first break with another flurry of behinds to end the quarter, a lead which could have easily been larger given their inaccurate return of 3.6 from nine scoring shots.
Quigg once again put Seymour on the board first as play resumed in the second term, but just as they had done in the first quarter, the Saints hit back with consecutive goals, the second tying things up at 32 apiece as the visitors continued to dig in.
The Lions enjoyed a dominant stretch to finish the term, but yet again were let down by accuracy in front of goal, with the final five scoring shots all behinds the way of Seymour, which led by the same margin going into the rooms for the main break.
With the first kick of the second half, though, Benalla rendered that period of Lions ascendancy a waste.
Saint Michael Mummery slotted his first of the afternoon to give his side a slender one-point advantage as the third term got under way, before adding his second shortly after to give Benalla its biggest advantage of the contest at seven points.
A familiar story played out for Seymour in reply, too, and though it continued to hold sway across the ground, three behinds either side of the Lions’ only major of the term, which came via Darcy Giles, saw the home side boot 1.6 from seven scoring shots for for the quarter.
Somehow, despite kicking only five goals to Benalla’s seven to three-quarter time, the Lions still led, holding a narrow 49-45 advantage at the final change despite owning territory and leading scoring shots 24 to 10.
With the first two goals of the final term, which came through Jaron Murphy and Ricky Schraven, the Lions extended the margin to 16 points, the biggest advantage of the game to that point and, while it looked to be enough initially, the Saints had one final attack left in them.
Benalla responded in kind, once more cutting the deficit to four points as Tom Riley and Mitchell Vasterink fired back-to-back goals to keep the Saints in it as the clock dwindled down, but the Lions had found their range finally, producing the final three goals of the contest, one each to Nathan Beattie, Tom Jeffrey and Ben Cooney, to close out a hard-fought 23-point victory.
Dylan Cook led the charge for the Lions with a sixth consecutive inclusion among the best, closely followed by the Giles brothers, Darcy and Lachlan, while Quigg (two majors) and Jesse Brock rounded out the most influential.
Young gun Owain Boyle was Benalla’s best in the loss, while Mummery and Riley finished as their side’s only multiple goal-kickers, each finishing with two majors.
The win ensures Seymour (9-4) heads into the bye comfortably in third with a game-and-a-half back to fourth-placed Shepparton Swans, while Benalla (3-10) sits 10th having endured a month of frustrating losses, all of which it was in contention to win in the final term.
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