In a low-scoring thriller, Mansfield bottled a 29-point half-time lead as a resurgent Benalla produced an eight-goal to one second half to condemn the Eagles to a second-straight Goulburn Valley League loss on home soil.
Mansfield would rue early misses in the contest, kicking six behinds before finding the goals, but despite the inaccuracy, there was a sense the Eagles were set to control the contest from start to finish.
A pair of majors from Nathan Buchanan and Harry Purcell saw Mansfield enter quarter-time 2.7 (19) to 0.2 (2), boasting seven more scoring shots in the opening period.
In the second term, the Eagles continued to soar.
While Benalla was admirable in tightening its defence, Mansfield still found avenues to goal, and with far straighter kicking, increasing the lead by 12 to 29 at the main break.
But following Nicholas Pearson’s speech in the sheds, the Saints came out a rejuvenated outfit.
The clubs locked horns across the opening twenty minutes of the term, but as red time closed in, the pendulum tilted in favour of Benalla.
Benalla’s Michael Mummery reduced the margin to 23 two minutes prior to added time, before Christopher Welsh snagged a major shortly after.
Mummery would prove decisive with ball in hand again, scoring his second and Benalla’s third in a row, before Mitchell Vasterink made it a five-point game at three-quarter-time.
While the Eagles had aimed to rebound following its round three loss to Seymour, Benalla’s scalp of Euroa had set the winning ways in motion for Pearson’s men.
It may have taken nearly twenty minutes to begin the chase, but in the fourth term, there was no slowing down the Saints’ scoring.
Mummery converted yet again, just two minutes into the last to hand Benalla its first lead all day, before two more goals sailed through to open up a 15-point advantage.
Mansfield key forward William Hogan replied but a minute and a half later the Saints would hit back, and hold on with grit to secure a 9.10 (64) to 6.12 (48) win.
The pair of clubs sit at opposing ends of the ladder - Mansfield fourth and Benalla ninth - but share a 2-2 record across a tight GVL competition in the early stages of the season.
Both clubs will look to break ahead of the pack with a win in round five, Mansfield travelling to Deakin Reserve to take on Shepparton United, while Benalla host the Shepparton Swans.
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