The Blues pulled off a thrilling 11.10 (76) to 10.14 (74) come-from-behind win against Terang Mortlake in a fifth-versus-sixth showdown on Saturday.

The loss saw the Bloods slip to seventh of the ladder, two points behind Hamilton Kangaroos and six points out of the top five.

Blues coach Matt O’Brien said it was a “terrific effort” from his players to fight back after being six goals down in the second term.

“I think they have to believe they are never out of it now,” he said.

"When the game was there to be won we sort of just dragged the game over the line.

“It wasn’t pretty but we just dragged it over the line with pure effort and a real will to win, I think, so a lot of positives will come out of that mentally."

The Blues mentor said he wasn’t happy his players put themselves in such a position but was rapt with the way they dug themselves out of it.

O’Brien was hopeful it would prove it could win regardless of the situation.

"I am just really pleased in that we had a bad start and we got ourselves back into it,” he said.

"It's probably the first time we have done that this year.

“We've hung on manfully and lost some games in that situation. But today is the first time we have pulled it out of the fire and won it so it was a real character-building and team-building game."

Jye Turland was a standout for the Blues and their back line was uncompromising for most of the day, with the trio of Mitch Burgess, Matt Colbert and Brad Bull all influential.

Terang Mortlake coach Michael Sargeant acknowledged his side let the game slip but was not prepared to dwell on the loss.

He believes there was still plenty for his side to take out of the match.

"We are looking at the positives out of the game," he said.

"Obviously there are a lot of negatives but you've got to look at the positives in the first half when we were really good.

"But we've just got to get back on the horse and back to training and keep working on things. There's not much more we can do really."

But Sargeant said the Bloods had not given up hope of playing finals football this season despite slipping to seventh.

"There is still a lot of football to be played," he said.

"Obviously you can’t deny it, it is going to make it harder.

“But there's still a lot of footy to be played, so if you just get down in the dumps about it you are no chance of coming back so you just have to keep plugging away at it and hope a few results go our way and we'll see how we go."