THIRROUL and Collegians were forced to share the points, but the fans who witnessed their 14-all draw would have left Gibson Park feeling like winners on Saturday .
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Butchers five-eighth Jack Payne had two shots at field goal in the final two minutes, with his first charged down and his second just missing to the left of the posts.
Dogs general Jarrod Boyle also got in position for a shot inside the final 30 seconds but his attempt was also charged down with the clock ultimately winning out in the end.
The respective No. 6’s were both among a host of man-of-the-match contenders, with Payne bagging a first half double as the hosts led 12-4 at halftime.
Saxon Onur scored the visitors only four-pointer in the opening stanza and the Dogs cut the margin back to four when Alec Reid crossed four minutes after the resumption.
The Butchers reclaimed a six-point buffer via a 58th minute penalty goal to Jake Walsh but things were all locked up when Boyle converted Paul Roberts’ try with 10 minutes to play.
Both sides pressed for the go-ahead point down the stretch but couldn’t land a killer blow as time ran out.
It was the Butchers second draw this season, having gone the distance with Wests in round one, with both performances against the heavyweights showing they belong in title reckoning.
“We knew from before round one we could go with the best teams, there’s no doubt about that,” Butchers coach Jarrod Costello said.
“We obviously would’ve preferred to get the two points but to get one against the premiers, you’ve got to cop that. We had a couple of chances to win it late that I would’ve liked to execute a bit better but that’s footy.
“It was a really hard game of footy but we’ll take the one point. Our guys effort was outstanding. Attitude and effort is what we pride ourselves on and that was excellent today.
“We committed to each other to make sure our effort and attitude was as good as it could be and we delivered on that commitment to each other so I was really happy with that.”
After a less than convincing start to the season, the defending premiers have strung together back to back 80-minute efforts against top four rivals heading into a two-week spell.
“I was pretty happy,” Dogs coach Nathan Fien said.
“We were down at halftime but it was pleasing again that we were able to stay in the grind and give ourselves an opportunity to steal it. We played well in patches but just our execution from time to time hurts us a bit.
“They’re a tough footy side that’s uncompromising and you’ve got to play the full 80. It was good we were able to grind out a one-pointer.
“I thought in the second half we were in control and were a bit unlucky not to steal it but you’re happy taking one point away from Gibson Park.
“We’ve got a couple of weeks off now with the bye and split round so we’ll keep working hard and come back better against Berkeley in a few week’s time.”