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Riders QB Darian Durant rolls out against the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium. (Photo: Sask Roughriders)

It might not have been the blow out that the 33,427 green clad fans were expecting to see and it might not have been how the Saskatchewan Roughriders drew it up, but the team extend their winning streak anyways.

Despite a late scare, the Riders went on to beat the Montreal Alouettes 16-11 at a sold out Mosaic Stadium on Saturday night, extending their winning streak to four games and improving their record to 5-2 heading into next week's meeting with the BC Lions.

Neither offence looked great in the game, but the Riders defence put together their fourth straight outstanding effort. They were able to buy time until the offence to finally clicked.

That connection finally came in the fourth quarter when quarterback Darian Durant stood in the pocket, took a big hit and still found a way to drop a perfect pass into the hands of Rob Bagg, who took in from 30 yards out for a touchdown.

“It was a perfectly thrown ball, it seemed to hang in the air forever and I just needed to go get it,” said Bagg, who finished with a team-high six catches for 90 yards in the win.

“When you're playing against a great defence like they are, you're going to have to come out and fight because they're going to fight,” said Durant. “They did a great job of fighting and they made it tough for us.”

That touchdown was the first by the Riders' offence in almost two full games and it came at a perfect time. Durant was hurt on the play, saying that he felt a tingling in his arm, but he finished the game, even running out the clock with a couple of key first down runs late.

“We're winning and we're beating some pretty good teams, so at the end of the day, as long as we win games, no matter how you win it, our day will come when we statistically fill up the stat sheet,” said Durant, who finished 19-of-30 for 221 yards and a touchdown. “At the end of the day, if we win than I'm happy.”

The entire game was dominated by both defences, but the Riders defence was just able to come up with more big plays than their counterparts from Montreal. Saskatchewan forced three turnovers, while Montreal was unable to get any takeaways.

In the past two games, the Riders have won the turnover battle a combined 10-0.

“At the end of the day it doesn't matter how you win. A win's a win,” said head coach Corey Chamblin. “There's always things that you're going to need to fix, whether you win by 20 points, 30 points or five points, and one week is always different than the next.”

The first half was quiet with both teams heading into the break tied at 4-4. The Riders looked as though they were going to pull away when early in the third quarter, Macho Harris picked off Montreal quarterback Alex Brink and went untouched into the end zone. The play was called back on a pass interference call, but the Riders got the ball back on the very next play with Terrell Maze snatch the Brink pass deep in Rider territory.

“That just says a lot about us, that we come together to play as one and we believe in each other,” said Harris. “I can't ask for a better team than what we got here. We're starting to gel and play together and it's really starting to show.”

Montreal moved the ball on the Riders, but continually had their drives stopped by a turnover or a sack before getting into scoring range.

John Chick had another monster game for the Riders, finishing with four tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble, as he pushed his league-leading sack total to 12 in seven games.

“It's crazy right now and I'll continue to take them, but the most important thing about today is that we got the win,” said Chick after the game. “It was a tough game and it was until the last second and that's a huge team win for us.”

Bagg's touchdown to start the fourth quarter put the Riders' in front 12-4 and they held that lead until late in the frame when Chris Milo missed a 45-yard field goal that Duron Carter was able to return 123 yards for a touchdown. That cut Saskatchewan's lead to 12-11 as Montreal decided against going for the two-point conversion with 3:34 to go.

An 83-yard rouge from Josh Bartel and a late 32-yard field goal by Milo sealed the win for the Riders as Montreal couldn't come up with the comeback.

“I don't care how it is, a win's a win, if this was the Grey Cup, I don't think anybody would care how we won,” said defensive end Ricky Foley. “As a veteran you start realizing that you can't take these games for granted.”

The Riders will saviour their win for the night and get back down to work the next day as they start their preparations for their first trip of the season to Vancouver to face the BC Lions.

Game Notes: Linebacker Sam Hurl left the game with an undisclosed injury and did not return for the second half. Tristan Black filled in for much of the second half, while Chad Kilgore also saw time in Hurl's spot.