MELEITA Finnigan has unveiled the secret to Hampden League's undefeated streak in the Western Regional State League.
The Bottlegreens last night snapped Colac Football Netball Club's unbeaten run while keeping their own perfect run intact in round three of the competition.
"I think they were missing a couple of experienced players," Finnigan said after the 53-51 victory.
"The other two Hampden sides have been missing players as well in the first few weeks, whereas we've been full strength every round except for tonight, we didn't have Megan (McKenzie).
"That's the first time we've missed someone though, which helps because it is only a seven-week competition."
Hampden had to endure a high-intensity encounter last night to be the only undefeated side in the open competition.
It built a 10-goal lead in the opening quarter, which Finnigan attributed to her side being switched on and to Tigers coach Courtney Gibson sitting on the sideline.
Gibson was brought on to wing attack after the first break.
"She really made a difference," Finnigan said. "We started to relax a bit at the start of the second quarter and took our foot off the pedal and let them get back into it."
The margin was whittled down to two goals at half-time before Colac came out firing as it ramped up its talk in its defensive third.
The loud, intimidating voices helped force Hampden to turn the ball over to effectively see the Tigers net two successive goals to level the scores.
Both sides used their towering teenage goal shooters ? Hampden's Danielle McLeod and Colac's Rebecca Scott ? as targets in the third term.
Scott continuously created space for herself to drop into against goal keeper Virginia Moloney while McLeod held strong and waited for Finnigan and sister Emily-Rose to thread the needle with some clever passes.
With four minutes remaining and with scores level, McLeod held time because of a back injury.
The sides traded goals in the last few minutes of the third term to be 40 apiece at the last break.
Holly Greene was moved from goal defence to goal keeper and immediately had an impact as she intercepted a lob to Scott in the opening 20 seconds of the final quarter.
The move continued to pay off as Greene curbed the influence of the shooter by getting her hands to passes.
McLeod called time again with 10 minutes remaining, when the Tigers were up by three goals.
She went to the bench while Josie Ellerton took the shooter's bib.
"I think when Dani came off, that threw them a little bit because their defenders had started to work out what to do," Finnigan said.
An intercept from Moloney on a Colac centre with eight minutes on the clock proved crucial as it narrowed the margin to one goal before Hampden levelled scores.
The pressure was then evident as each side had several turnovers before the Bottlegreens managed to steady.
Ellerton and goal attack Leah Kermeen combined effectively and shot accurately to give Hampden a two-goal lead with a few minutes remaining.
Colac had a couple of chances to narrow the margin but a contact and a step from the Tigers allowed the Bottlegreens to hold on.
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