BOORT had to overcome woeful kicking and relentless pressure from an energised St Arnaud to take the points in Saturday’s North Central football.
The Pies should have been hot favourites heading into the match after a stirring victory a week earlier against Wedderburn and all but securing a top four finish this season.
St Arnaud, still smarting from an early season loss against Charlton, had different ideas from the first bounce.
The Saints went deep immediately, only to see their efforts thwarted by defender Kieren Wilson in his 200th senior game for Boort.
Wilson’s turnover had the Pies heading towards the town end of Boort Park where they would end up kicking eight behinds in the opening term.
It took a mid-quarter goal from Harry Weaver in his first senior game, minutes after Tyson Rutley had passed to Jayden Dick 15 metres out, for the Pies to gain an edge.
Harrison Saunders. Sam Male  and Owen Lowe were backing up the Saints’ bigger guns half forward Max Hungerford, defenders Bailey Durward and Mitch Birthisel who forced Boort into kicking errors although St Arnaud went to the first break without a score on the board.
A light breeze, worth no more than a goal, was used to advantage in the second term when St Arnaud kicked accurately, Hungerford had the early true kicks, responding to Barbopoulos who had Boort ticking over the scoreboard in the opening minutes.
Lachie Hall on a back flank, Tom Potter in the forward zone and Weaver were working the midfield for Boort but unable to see their work reap rewards. Baddeley-Kelly and Peter Barbopoulos were roaming the ground with dogged conviction yet the Saints went to the main break trailing by six points.
Boort used the premiership quarter to reproduce some of the form it had shown the week earlier at Donaldson Park.
Baddeley-Kelly became more dominant and dangerous around goals - he would end the day with three majors - while James Keeble and Jarrod Fitzpatrick came into their own across the midfield. Weaver kept finding new form as the game evolved and would be named in the club’s best, rotating well off the bench.
The power third term, however, was riddled with poor kicking by Boort. With 6.5 added to the scoreboard, the Pies rued too many missed chances to have a percentage boosting win.
The final term became a slog with both sides adding 2.3.
Boort this week faces Charlton who managed just two scoring shots against Birchip Watchem on Saturday. An easy win on the cards but Boort will need to lift its disposal and goal accuracy and build four-quarter consistency to steel for matches against top sides.