Travelling to Rochester for the round 17 clash, the Saints made a bright start to the contest, however, were unable to keep pace as the game wore on, eventually falling 43-57 at Rochester Recreation Reserve.
A strong opening term had the Saints well and truly in the contest on Saturday, trailing by just four goals at quarter-time, however, Rochester was able to widen the margin by a further seven goals in the second quarter to lead 30-19 by half-time, although the gap was far from insurmountable for Benalla.
A strong start to the second half was needed from Benalla if it was to be any chance of overturning the deficit and, while the two sides went goal-for-goal early, the Saints were soon on the back foot again, with the Tigers making a run in the middle of the third term to push the lead out to a game-high 15 goals.
Benalla rallied to reduce the margin by three-quarter time, however, still trailed 30-43 at the final break, with the Tigers coming up with all the answers when questioned.
It was all Rochester to start the final term, pouring in nine of the first 13 goals as the lead hit a peak of 18 goals, effectively killing off any chance of a Benalla comeback.
The Saints returned serve to cut the margin back to the 13 goals Rochester led by at the final break, but it was too little, too late, as the Tigers went on to record the win by 14 goals.
In other results, the B-grade side went down 41-53, B Reserve fell 33-51, the under-17s suffered a 39-56 defeat and the under-15s went down 36-48.
Benalla will be in action at the showgrounds this weekend for the final game of the season, where it will look to finish the year on a high and claim win number two when it hosts Mansfield on Saturday.
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