THREE goals in four minutes from star Wedderburn forward Jye Mortlock triggered a revival at Donaldson Park on Saturday that came close to denying Boort its first win over the Redbacks in a decade.
The Redbacks were 30 points down when the final quarter started. Mitch Jensen gave a glimpse of what was to come over the next half hour with a goal within eight seconds.
Jensen bookended the Mortlock goals with another of his own, following deft work Jensen opponents in the goal square put the home side down just a point.
Free kicks from umpiring veteran Dean Goodridge led to firey encounters across the midfield in that frenetic last 15 minutes of the match.
Oscar Holt, who had been solid all day, found extra strength as he burst through packs and landed the ball with Noah Furling who who put Wedderburn in front for the first time since mid-way through the opening term.  
Boort pushed deep into its forward 50, a free to Boort’s Jarrod Fitzpatrick had the Pies back in front that was followed by a major off the boot of Kane Rutley.
A dubious boundary call and a poor throw looked to have snuffed Wedderburn’s chances only to see Holt, Hamish Lockhart, Jackson McEwen and Isaac Holt refusing to surrender.
Wedderburn had chances but was offline. Oscar Holt had three bounces on the outer wing only to miss but redeemed within second with a goal on the 28-minute mark.
With less than two minutes on the clock, Carlos Egan, Matt Austin, Keeble, Rutley and Keiren  Wilson were cutting off Wedderburn passes.
The Redbacks’ final lunge forward was stopped across the half-back line by Alex Chamberlain who had the ball heading into the Pies’ forward zone as the siren sounded five seconds short of a 30-minute final term.
Boort’s stunning victory was set up with a domination across the midfield in the second and third terms.
They were able to find space and set up forward pushes while Wedderburn relied on too few. Hamish Lockhart was the Wedderburn standout for three quarters.
Boort had better avenues to goal although not always getting the results. Wedderburn’s defence pretty much contained Jye Baddeley-Kelly most of the day, the Pies’ assistant coach held to three goals and also spending some time earlier in the game in defence. 
The real damage was done by Boort in the third quarter  when Wilson and Will Perryman were super solid in defence and Boort appeared to have an extra stride on Redback opponents.
Peter Barbopoulos had the edge in the ruck for much of the day against Redbacks’ rugby convert Mark Robinson. Barbopoulos used his body to gain advantage and flick the ball to team mates, 
Wedderburn was without 300-game veteran and regular ruckman Adam Postle with a niggling leg wound, Boort’s aerial supremo James Wilson had a wedding. 
Compounding team selection for the Redbacks with the withdrawal rover Zac Pallpratt who pulled a hamstring in the pre-game warm-up.
Andrew Chalkley a star back in the Redbacks’ glory run who returned with a ripping reserves game two weeks ago to earn immediate senior promotion, lasted just 10 minutes, injuring an ankle. Coach Tom Metherell did a hamstring late in the game.
 Boort earned the vital points on Saturday to end a two-game losing streak against fellow top four contenders Calder United and Birchip Watchem and stay in the hunt for a top two finish.
- CHRIS EARL