The Bendigo Bombers will be ruing a lost opportunity when North Ballarat defeated them by four-points yesterday afternoon at the Queen Elizabeth Oval. The Bombers put in an inspirational third quarter of football against the trend of play to set up a seemingly match winning lead heading into the final quarter with a strong breeze.

But it wasn’t to be with North Ballarat fighting back in the last ten minutes of the match to turn a 21-point deficit into a four-point lead at the final siren.

It was a must win match for Bendigo, who desperately needed victory if it had any chance of playing in the 2006 finals’ series.

The Bendigo statistics:

J Doering 18 (kicks), 7 (handballs), 4 (marks)
S Rosa 12, 13, 5
D Biggs 10, 13, 5
R Cole 15, 7, 6,
S Lonergan 11, 11, 9
J Nash 14, 8, 3
M Firman 16, 5, 10
M Vigus 10,8, 6
N Carter 14,2,5
B Jolley 7, 9,3
A Lucy 8,8,7
J Blumfield 10, 4, 4
J Bowe 8,6,1
T Cartledge 9,5,7
L Marsh 8,3,2
K Pendlebury 6,5,1
H Slattery 6,5,1
C Beasy, 5,3,2
J Maddern 6,1,3
G Bowles 4,0,0
B Childs 1,1,1
T O’Keefe 1,1,1