Nirranda and Timboon Demons are the only two Warrnambool and District league A grade sides undefeated going into round four.
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Fans were thrilled by a finals-like match between Nirranda and Panmure at Panmure on Saturday.
The Bulldogs barked back after the Blues raced out to a seven-goal quarter-time lead.
It was a frantic final term as the scores were even on multiple occasions.
The experienced Blues withstood the pressure and secured a 39-37 victory.
Nirranda coach Steph Townsend, who scored 28 goals, said it was a gritty win.
"Credit to Panmure they really put on a nice defensive show throughout all aspects of the court and they fought their way back," she said.
"In that last quarter, it was almost like a finals aspect.
"It was really nice to be part of, I think they really pushed us and, like I said to our girls in our huddle, it was a gritty win."
Townsend was thrilled the Blues were able to grind out the victory despite missing some big names.
The Blues mentor explained assistant playing-coach Jo Couch, who was feeling unwell, was a late withdrawal.
Recruit Meagan Forth, who has been managing a knee injury, didn't play either.
"Hopefully Jo will be back next week and we'll just ease Meags back into some workload and hopefully within the next couple of games she'll be back as well," Townsend said.
The coach added another recruit Chantelle Moloney hurt her back in A reserve and was unable to play.
A third recruit Sam Couch re-injured her ankle during the A grade clash and came off in the final quarter.
Panmure coach Josie Ellerton felt her team rose to the occasion of playing a league juggernaut in its first home encounter of the season.
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"It was intense, wasn't it? It was our first home game and we probably brought a lot of that into it," she said.
"We just wanted to play netball back at home and we were pumped for a good game against Nirranda.
"But more importantly for ourselves, we've got some girls who haven't played here before - we've had two away games.
"So it was really good to step on the court as a team at Panmure and play a ripper game."
Ellerton felt her group lifted its intensity after quarter-time.
She took plenty of positives from the Bulldogs' performance.
"Our focus today was on us, we're just really happy with how we played," she said.
"They're (Nirranda) an awesome unit but we're still finding our feet together - our goalies that was their second game together."
Goalie recruit Abby Sheehan was away last week so she and Charlotte Lenehan were back in attack again on Saturday.
Panmure got through the match unscathed.
The Bulldogs host South Rovers in round four while the Blues face Kolora-Noorat.
Meanwhile, Timboon Demons caused an upset with a 35-29 away victory against reigning premier, Merrivale.
It was an exciting day for a young South Rovers side which scored its first win of the season against Allansford. The Lions won 44-36.
Old Collegians also secured its maiden victory of 2021 with a 48-33 win against Dennington.
Russells Creek made it two in a row with a convincing 53-25 triumph against Kolora-Noorat.
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