Gallery | Congupna avoids slip up to brave Nathalia in round 14 Murray Football League

Nathalia started the match well, but struggled to convert and make the most of its chances early — albeit in tough conditions — as the Purples kicked 1.5 (11) to The Road’s 3.2 (20).

The match remained closely contested for the rest of the day, with the lead never growing any larger than 15 points in the following three quarters.

Congupna’s star forward Kyle Mueller was busy for the Roaders, booting a game-high three goals for the match (64 for the season), while Nathalia gun Liam Evans (52) kicked two.

Halfway through the final quarter, the Purples led by five points and were hopeful of an upset victory that would steer them back into the top six as they desperately scrap for finals.

However, The Road was saved by the experienced heads of captain Daniel Schaper (who kicked the go-ahead goal) and star midfielder Jack Norman (kicked the sealer), who stood up late for their side.

The final score was 9.4 (58) to 7.9 (51) in Congupna’s favour.

The Road now sits 10 points clear of second-placed Finley on the ladder, with coach Ben Bingham happy that his side walked away with the four points.

“It was probably the worst conditions we have played in for the last couple of years,” Bingham said.

“It suited (Nathalia) a bit more the sloppier conditions just with their contest-based game.

“It was more of a surge game forward to take territory, so it took a lot of our free-flowing and skill-based type of game style out of it.

“We move on to the next week as we probably can’t take too much out of those (type of) games.”

Congupna’s one loss for the season was against Finley in round six in similar conditions to Saturday’s match.

Bingham said he was impressed to see how his players learned from their loss against the Cats.

“We put it on our midfield at half-time as (Nathalia) were winning the ground ball around the contest in that first half and then Jack Norman really stood up in the second half for us around the contest,” he said.

“Tate Mifka and Jack Norman, our on-ballers, they really led from the front.

“It is pleasing at the end of the day that we can win in tricky conditions, we lost one earlier on in the year against Finley in similar conditions.

“The fact we learned from that and then we iced the clock with a few minutes to go is really going to help us going forward.”

In the previous fortnight, Congupna played potential finalists Cobram and Nathalia, while in the next two weeks, The Road will face Finley and Moama (third place on the ladder).

Bingham believes this tough run into finals will help his team grow and prepare for September action.

“We are treating this block of four games as a mini finals series for us,” he said.

“We play second and third for the next few weeks, so we will try to fine-tune our game plan, and we might chop and change a few things up.

“It’s a really good time of the year to try and test that out and try to get a good training load into our guys.”

In other round 14 matches, Numurkah has beaten Tongala by 52 points at home.

Blues’ Tim Arnel booted three goals for the home side.

Rumbalara has suffered a heavy 73-point defeat to Mulwala at home.

Echuca United has caused a massive upset win over Cobram for the Eagles’ first win of the season.

United beat the Tigers by seven points, denting Cobram’s finals hopes.

Deniliquin produced an impressive 40-point win over Moama at home.

Meanwhile, Finley escaped a shock loss to Barooga thanks to a final-quarter surge.

The Cats defeated the Hawks by four points.