WERRIBEE fought back from 43 points down to record a stirring 29-point victory over Essendon in the Victorian Football League on Saturday.
The Tigers found themselves more than seven goals down midway through the second term before launching a sensational comeback to get their seventh win of the season.
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With Port Melbourne losing on the weekend, Werribee moved into sixth spot ahead of a crucial clash with new ladder-leader Casey on July 14.
“Was I worried? I was worried we’d get done by 100 points at one stage,” said Tigers coach Scott West.
The Bombers dominated early, having 10 scoring shots to three in the first term at Avalon Airport Oval.
Had they kicked straight, their 22-point quarter-time lead could have been a match-winning one.
It appeared to be heading that way early in the second term as the lead hit 43 points. Scott Gumbleton, on fire, kicked three for the quarter.
The Tigers rallied late in the term with the last three goals but still trailed by 26 points at the half.
From there, however, Werribee, with some changes around the ground, found a new level, kicking 11 of the next 14 goals.
Jarred Moore kicked two of the Tigers’ four third-quarter goals and the lead was cut to four points before Gumbleton popped up again, kicking his fourth to give Essendon 10 points of breathing space at the final break.
The Tigers got the first two of the final term to snatch the lead for the first time and for a few minutes scores were level.
But Werribee would go on to kick seven to one, with Ben Brown, Majak Daw and Addam Maric all kicking important goals.
Brown finished with three, Daw, Moore and Ben McKinley with two. Kangaroos ruckman Daniel Currie was back to some of his best since recovering from a finger injury.
“You have to lift when you’re that far down,” said West. “It was more relief than anything else – it takes a lot of effort and the boys were drained afterwards.
“They got rewarded for their efforts and sang the song with a bit of gusto.”
