AN exceptionally youthful Kilmore outfit fought hard against Ivanhoe, before the ladder-leaders flexed its muscle in the second half to win by 83 points.
The Blues came into the game at Ivanhoe Park having lost their previous encounter against the Hoers by 139 points and were determined to improve on that.
The first quarter was a good indication that they were up for the fight, kicking two goals through Ryan Knight and Jared Crosbie and holding Ivanhoe to four to trail by 11 points at the first break, 15-26.
Kilmore kicked the first goal of the quarter to reduce the lead to one goal, but while Ivanhoe were peppering, kicking two goals from 10 scoring shots, the Blues kept in touch, with further goals from Lachlan Chesher and William O’Dwyer-Richards keeping them in the game at half time, trailing 33-46.
However, the third quarter was where Ivanhoe started to click, kicking the first three goals of the quarter to essentially make the game safe.
O’Dwyer-Richards and Crosbie kicked goals for the term, but Ivanhoe had kicked seven for the quarter to take a commanding 93-50 lead at the final change.
Zack Ferguson kicked an early goal in the last for the Blues, but that was the extent of the scoring for Kilmore as it ran out of legs – the Hoers kicking seven final-quarter goals to eventually win 20.19 (139) to 8.8 (56).
Chris Barton led from the front, while Chesher, Knight, Grant Paxton, Caleb Newport and Mitchell O’Dwyer also played well.
With four games remaining, the Blues sit two games outside the top five and will need a miracle to make finals.