TERANG Mortlake coach Michael Sargeant says the Bloods' breakthrough win is for their supporters.
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The Bloods snapped a seven-game losing streak to start the 2019 Hampden league season when they edged out Cobden 11.10 (76) to 9.12 (66) on Saturday.
"It means more to the supporters than the players," Sargeant said.
"They are there win, loss or draw and rain, hail or shine.
"It was a big bus trip for the supporters to go to Portland last week; they just never give up, so this win is a bit of a reward for them."
Sargeant also hopes the gritty victory will kick-start a run of improved form for the Bloods.
"There is a little bit of belief in the group," he said.
"I can't fault them, they're working really hard."
A five-goal haul to key forward Steve Staunton was the difference.
The veteran, who has played ruck this season, gave the Bloods a target.
"We seemed to score a bit easier than they did," Sargeant said.
"'Stauto' predominantly played forward all day and he was a good target and on song.
"He'll openly admit he hasn't marked great throughout the season but today he was on top of his game."
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Cobden was relegated to the bottom of the 10-team ladder following the defeat, replacing Terang Mortlake.
Bombers coach Adam Courtney said they wanted to avoid a repeat performance, labelling it "extremely flat and disappointing", when they host Camperdown in the Freeze MND round next weekend.
"We weren't switched on from the start," he said.
"You have to come prepared and we weren't prepared, full credit to Terang. We were lackadaisical in the warm-up and it carried on from there."
Cobden's long injury list took another hit with Jesse Williamson hyper-extending his knee and experienced defender Chris Paatsch suffering a corked calf.
Courtney said Paatsch went to the hospital emergency department.
"It doesn't look good for him," he said.
"He's been one of our best performers this year and his leadership for the young fellas has been great."
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