A MONUMENTAL third quarter wasn’t enough for Tyrendarra to get over the line on Sunday in a willing contest against Hamilton.

The Hamilton Kangaroos finished with a 5.5 (35) to 3.7 (25) victory after the round five Western Victoria Female Football League clash.

The Darras went into the game without the services of assistant coaches and captains Nicola Clarke and Sarah Pedrazzi along with some other key contributors.

Hamilton fired in the first quarter, using the ball well and finding their targets down the ground to develop a two-goal lead.

Tyrendarra pushed to level the playing field in the second quarter, lifting their work rate around the ground led by Eliza Fitzpatrick and Ebony Stiles.

By the main break Tyrendarra had hit the scoreboard but couldn’t break through Hamilton’s lead.

Tyrendarra coach Glenn Kane said it was a solid performance for his side but accuracy in the forward fifty will be a focus point moving forward.

“We had the ball in our forward half more than they did and we gave ourselves a lot of opportunity; we just lacked a bit of polish up forward,” he said.

“It came down to our finishing skills but those are things that will keep developing and getting better with more game time.”

Tyrendarra came out firing in the second half with a goal off the boot of Megan Latham putting the Darras just three points behind.

There was plenty of tackling pressure from the home side but when Hamilton found open space they surged quickly into their forward half and were accurate in front of goals.

Kane said the match was a great opportunity for other players to lift in the absence of some key contributors and the team rose to the challenge.

“I was really pleased with the effort and we keep continuing with our major theme which is just improvement,” he said.

“We saw a lot of players step into different roles, and roles they haven’t played before and they did really well.

“The likes of Bill (Lauren Millard) played on the ball and really had a crack and Eliza (Fitzpatrick) also spent a lot of time in the middle and I thought she was really good.

“After half time our contested possession went through the roof and our tackling pressure was sensational all day.”

Fitzpatrick earned best on ground for her work through the middle while Ebony Stiles, Eliza Alexander, Emily Gorey and Latham were also named in the best.

• Portland’s under-18 team had the bye but will return next weekend to face Old Collegians while Tyrendarra will take on Stawell.