The Mid Gippsland Football League finals are just five weeks away and the top teams continued to swap positions in round 13.
Yallourn-Yallourn North dropped to third while Mirboo North moved up a peg to second.
Yinnar is only in fourth on percentage while Morwell East now looks safe in fifth, 10 points ahead of nearest rival Thorpdale.
NEWBOROUGH was sitting pretty on top four points clear and doubled the gap after beating nearest challenger YYN by 44 points.
The Dogs had to do it the hard way and trailed in the first quarter by 12 points after YYN got the jump.
It was a hard clash between the heavyweights but Newborough showed how to get in front and stay there.
The Dogs recovered in the second term with some brilliant football; Josh Hecker provided plenty of go around the centre and the two Wilsons, Thomas and Rob, were in the thick of things.
Ash Dugan and Joel Mitchell were dangerous around the goalmouth.
YYN’s usual drive was not forthcoming as Newborough piled on the pressure.
The Bombers missed a pocket rocket in the forward line but also fell down across half forward.
A five-to-one goal second term put Newborough in the box seat by half-time.
Newborough again steadied in the third with some powerful play, at times leaving the Bombers in their wake.
YYN was under the pump and cracks were showing as Newborough again smashed it on the forward line with another five goals to one and ran in at three-quarter-time with a 29-point lead.
In the last term Newborough sewed up the game as the meanest defence in the competition and kept the Bombers to a zero quarter.
Dugan was top scorer for Newborough with four goals and Mitchell chipped in for three.
For the Bombers Dean MacDonald battled hard for his three goals but it was veteran Barrie Burnett who showed out in the conditions.
Newborough consolidated top position with a 13.6 (84) to 6.4 (40) win.
CHRIS De Haas’ 331 game milestone for Trafalgar was overshadowed by a loss to Mirboo North, which snuck up into second position as a result.
Mirboo North was sluggish in the first term and scored a lazy 2.4 (16) under near ideal conditions, although it was a bit heavy in patches.
Trafalgar replied with 1.1 (7) but it was poor football by both camps.
Mirboo North coach Clancy Bennett gave his side a rev at the first break and the Tigers looked a different unit going into the second quarter.
They played well, had better teamwork and were more intent to get the ball forward, with Mitchell Weightman and Hudson Kerr doing well in their positions.
After half-time Mirboo North increased the intensity and, with plenty of forwards to pick from, Luke Palmer stepped into the breech and made his mark around the forward line to finish with a creditable seven goals in a best on ground display.
Josh Taylor was again a player under notice and his four goals were pure class.
Trafalgar hoped to do something in the final term but Mirboo North shut it down, allowing just two meagre behinds.
Mirboo North went onto bury Trafalgar in the final term with a further 8.4 (52) to finish with 23.16 (154) to 3.4 (22).
It equalled the Tigers’ highest score against Trafalgar of 154 points set in 2004.
MORWELL East almost consolidated fifth place with a timely win over Hill End but it wasn’t as easy as expected.
The scoreboard showed a 29-point win but Hill End was competitive and made it difficult to play possession football.
Hill End showed promise around the goals and, although it only got eight, it was dual coded Ben Rotheram’s best day for the Hillmen with six majors.
Morwell East showed patches of brilliance as it moved the ball from defence to attack but let itself down with shoddy forward play.
It was goal for goal in the third term as both tried to outscore each other with five apiece to keep the goal umpires on their toes.
Hill End’s energy level dropped in the last term as Morwell East took over with Lockie White and Brendan Evans in good form.
The Hawks had most of the play but struggled to kick goals in a 1.6 (12) final term to run out winners 11.17 (83) to 8.6 (54).
BOOLARRA put to rest any thoughts of a Yarragon victory with win number four for the season.
It avenged the first round defeat at the hands of the Panthers.
Boolarra set the pace in the first term but suffered from inaccurate kicking; with most of the play up forward the Demons could only manage 4.8 (32), with Troy Tobin amongst the goalkickers.
Yarragon outpaced Boolarra in the second but the Demons kept doubling their score and by half-time it was 32-point ballgame.
Scott Cooper and James Holmes were good for Boolarra with Ben Egan, Tim Farthing and Zac Regester performing well under pressure for Yarragon.
The Panthers were competitive but fell down with turn-overs with at least three giving goals away to Boolarra as the Dees capitalised on Yarragon’s errors.
Boolarra ended the day with 12.18 (90) to Yarragon 8.10 (58).
Tobin booted four and Matt Coutts three in Boolarra’s score.
YINNAR beat Thorpdale for the 100th time but it’s taken the Magpies 81 years to reach the milestone.
In a competitive match Yinnar proved too strong to run out winners by 35 points and almost knock Thorpdale out of the running for a finals berth.
The Blues are 10 points out in sixth and with a hard five to play look like missing out.
Yinnar is still in fourth but only percentage separates it from YYN in third.
After Thorpdale’s big win the previous week the Blues came crashing back to reality against a competitive Yinnar side.
Yinnar established a good lead by half-time but fell into a hole in the third when it failed to score.
Thorpdale added 4.2 (26) but didn’t apply the finishing touch and allowed Yinnar to bounce back with 3.5 (17) to 1.1 (7).
The final score was 10.13 (73) to 5.8 (38) Yinnar’s way.
Tim Aitken battled for his three goals for Yinnar.
Sam McCulloch, Jaime Aitken and Liam Maynard were the picks for Yinnar while Jake Atkinson, Ben Leach and Travis Pickering played well for the Dales.
