South Gambier might remain undefeated, but West Gambier provided the Demons with a far bigger fight than anyone anticipated at Blue Lake Sports Park on Saturday.

With first v last on the ladder facing off, little thought the Roos could mount a significant challenge to the red and white in the round 5 Western Border football contest.

However, no one told the West boys this and they went in for the kill from the opening bounce.

Suddenly an undermanned South side found itself battling for possession and supremacy as the crowd snuck closer to the edge of their seats.

The grunt work was done by Michael Minuzzo, Dale Robbins and Lawry Bradley-Brown, who fronted the Roos’ ambush which was typified by pressure.

Two early goals to Nathan Taylor and Jordan Williams put West in front and allowed the visitors to dream.

South coach Brayden Kain admitted his team could not match the Roos intensity as they skipped to a point lead at the first break.

“We knew West was going to throw everything at us and credit to them, because they stuck to their structures and took their opportunities,” he said.

“They took it to us and put us on the back foot being skillful and first to the ball.

“This was our most undermanned team for the year, so we had a little bit of inexperience and lacked a bit of polish to hang onto possession.

“We took a few risks and West capitalised on that.”

But it is hard to keep a good team down for long and South rediscovered its best in the second term to claw back the momentum.

After Kain’s boot kept his team in it before quarter time, he now enjoyed support from Brody Virgo and Dale Handreck.

In the middle, the super consistent Brock Keding continued his golden form generating plenty of pace from the wing and the more experienced Jake Tentye and Jake Casey also played big roles, while Todd Reid took many intercept marks.

With more impact in front of goal, South stole the lead before half time and established its dominance after the big break.

The Demons kicked six goals to two across the second half and the sting of the challengers had disappeared by the final quarter as the hosts ran riot.

The beneficiary on most occasions was Kain, who was an unstoppable force inside the 50-metre arc and took his strong season to new heights, kicking six from all corners.

Kain said winning from a tricky position added another highlight to the successful start to a season.

“We stuck to our guns and did not get down on ourselves which allowed us to get back into the game,” he said.

“The wind was a bit tricky so once we got a break we were able to put them away and make sure they could not get back into it.

“Mid week we had Emmerson Marks and Mitch Sims go down, but Jake Tentye has taken his footy to the next level with his midfield capacity in the absence of Brett O’Neil.

“He was in and under getting first use and nullified any of their run off the halfback line which helped us lock the ball up.”