Just one win continues to separate Marong (8-6), Pyramid Hill (7-7) and Newbridge (7-8) from fourth to sixth with two rounds remaining following their victories.

Marong became the first team outside of Bridgewater to defeat Mitiamo, upstaging the Superoos by 19 points.

The game had been in the balance at three quarter-time with Mitiamo holding a six-point lead.

However, the Panthers ran the game out stronger with five goals to one in the final term to win 16.6 (102) to 12.11 (83) at Mitiamo.

“It was a game we really had to win today and the boys all stood up,” Marong coach Damien Lock said.

“We’ve been hit hard with a lot of injuries this year, but we’ve got close to our best team out on the park now and hopefully, a win like today will give the boys a lot of confidence going into the last couple of weeks.”

Crucial in the Panthers’ win was their accuracy to kick 16 goals from 22 scoring shots – one less score than the Superoos’ 23.

“Of those six points we kicked, there were a couple of easy misses, so we probably should have kicked a couple more goals,” said Lock, who kicked two goals.

Corey Gregg (two goals) was outstanding through the midfield to be the Panthers’ best player, while ruckman Justin Hynes was tireless all day and Ben Gregg did a fine run-with role on Superoos’ star Tyson Sidebottom.

Ryan Wellington’s solid form up forward continued for the Panthers with another haul of five goals.

After his knee scare last week, Mitiamo coach Justin Maddern took his place in the side and bagged five goals.

The Superoos kicked half of their 12 goals in the opening term when they led 6.2 to 4.0 at quarter-time.

Luke Lougoon, Terry Reeves and veteran Aaron McKean were Mitiamo’s better players.

• Newbridge upset Calivil United by 10 points, yet lost its position in the top five.

The Maroons led at every change in beating the Demons 9.11 (65) to 8.7 (55) at 5 Star Stockfeeds Oval in what was a game they had gone into with a season-on-the-line mentality.

And they played accordingly in what was their fifth win in their past six games.

“We worked hard for four quarters and were able to grind out a really good win,” Maroons coach Matt Dillon said.

In what was a low-scoring contest, the Maroons gained the ascendancy in the third term when they kicked four goals to two to turn an eight-point advantage at half-time into a 20-point lead going into the final quarter.

Tom Wilson in defence was the best player for the Maroons as he filled the void of centre half-back Mark Phelps who was out, while key onballers Brad Comer and Lachlan Ford were also both influential.

“They were both huge for us, especially when the game was there to be won,” Dillon said.

The loss was Calivil United’s third in a row, and coupled with Marong’s win leaves the door ajar for the Panthers to potentially steal third spot from the Demons.

The gap between Calivil United and Marong – who clash this Saturday in a game that all of a sudden has a bit riding on it – is now just one game, although, the Demons also have a 34 per cent buffer.

Better players for the Demons were ruckman Chris Down, Mitch Brewer and forward Phil Lobb.

• Pyramid Hill has worked its way back into the top five, overhauling Newbridge on percentage after defeating Bears Lagoon-Serpentine by 68 points.

The Bulldogs – the first LVFNL team this year to field a team at 100 per cent of their player points allocation (48) – kept the Bears winless with the 18.16 (124) to 8.8 (56) victory at Serpentine.

The Bulldogs controlled the contest from the outset, leading by 30 points at quarter-time, before extending their advantage to 44 at half-time, 10.11 to 4.3.

“We did what we had to do today, which was get the four points,” Pyramid Hill coach Brad Fawcett said.

“We were fairly inaccurate early (5.7 in first term), but took our chances a lot better in the last couple of quarters.”

Jacob Loraine was again a strong target up forward for the Bulldogs, booting seven goals to back up his five against Inglewood last week.

“He had plenty of pings at goal today… he probably could have kicked another seven or eight,” Fawcett said.

Billy Micevski (two goals) again did plenty of grunt work as his solid season continued, while ruckman Trent Barri also played well.

Nathan McNally (three goals), Kalem Paxton and Jasper Walker-Corbet battled hard for the Bears.

• For the first time this season YCW has won back-to-back games.

Having defeated Pyramid Hill in their previous game before the bye, the Eagles backed it up with a 12.13 (85) to 11.11 (77) away win over Inglewood.

The result was a 70-point turnaround on their round seven meeting, which the Blues won by 62 points.

“We were really embarrassed last time we played Inglewood, so we went into this game knowing we had to redeem ourselves. To the boys credit, they did that,” YCW co-coach Daniel Francis said.

The victory was the Eagles’ fourth of the season, which surpasses their tally of three from last year, with two more games still to play.

The Eagles’ three best players – Jake Klemm, Liam Collins and Cohen Kekich – all played in defence, while down the other end Dooley Niemann kicked four goals.

The Blues were outscored four goals to two in the final term having led by six points at three quarter-time.

Captain Sam Williams and Shane Harris both kicked three goals for Inglewood, which had good players in Joe Hartney, Brandon Worner and Jarrod Starr.