In the end the Tigers won 14.15 (99) to 8.12 (60) but Dimboola closed to within three goals halfway through the final quarter.

Nhill coach Alan Bennett said it was good to get the first win on the board.

“It wasn’t a great game of footy but I thought we played well in patches,” he said.

“We still made a lot of errors but the game was there to be won – it wasn’t pretty, but we got over the line.”

It was a strong first half that set the game up for the Tigers side on the road.

At quarter-time the margin was already 27 points as a result of the Nhill players being cleaner with the ball.

The first 12 minutes of the second quarter was a tough wrestle before the Lachie Watts kicked his and Dimboola’s second goal of the game.

Good work in and around centre clearances led to three quick Nhill goals and a 39-point margin at half time.

“We’ve got to be good with our clearance work at home at Davis Park because it’s a small ground,” Bennett said.

“That is something we’ve worked on and we’re very lucky to have guys like Billy Hayes, he’s fantastic in there.”

Nhill kicked the first goal of the second half within the opening minute but Dimboola managed to wrestle momentum for the first time.

Increased pressure around stoppages stopped the Tigers from moving the ball as cleanly as often, and instead allowed the Roos to do so.

Dimboola coach Al McKinnon said it was something his side had been working on. “That allowed us to get them on the hop rather than the other way around,” he said.

“Our forward line also functioned better, we were more settled and structured.”

A 29-point margin at the final break could have been even less had a Dimboola goal in the final minute not been disallowed due to a free-kick being payed off the ball.

The Roos continued to hold sway as Nhill missed opportunities to ice the game early in the fourth.

With more than 10 minutes to play that margin was just 18 points.

“It felt like we had momentum and we had our chances,” McKinnon said.

“But Nhill have some good quality players who dug deep when they needed to.”

After Dimboola kicked a string of points heads dropped as Nhill managed to extend the lead again before a final goal rubbed salt into the wound after the siren.

Bennett said he although he was nervous at times in the final quarter he had to have faith in his players.

“You had to think if we keep doing the right things then we will get there in the end, which we did,” he said.