A point after the final siren from star forward Kaiden Antonowicz lifted South Bendigo to a drought-breaking one-point win over Eaglehawk at the QEO.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With the scores level, Antonowicz marked the ball about 45m out from goal on the half-forward flank at the Barnard Street end.
The final siren sounded as he was preparing to take his kick.
Antonowicz held his nerve and his set shot from just inside 50 sailed into the goal post.
It was the most important point the Bloods have kicked in some time as players and supporters celebrated arguably the club's best win in the best part of a decade.
The Bloods had lost their 14 previous encounters with Eaglehawk by an average margin of 10 goals dating back to round 11, 2012.
The 13.42 (92) to 13.13 (91) win gave the Bloods a 2-0 record - the first time the club has been 2-0 since 2012, which was the last year the Bloods qualified for finals.
"Talking to a few of the boys that have been at the club for a while, that's the first time they've beaten Eaglehawk,'' coach Nathan Horbury said.
"For the boys to hang in there and keep coming the way they did was phenomenal."
The Bloods trailed by 12 points at the final change, but restricted Eaglehawk to one goal in the last term.
A Brody Haddow goal levelled the scores in the dying minutes laying the foundation for Antonowicz to complete the upset victory.
"It was one of the better wins I've been involved with,'' Horbury said.
"It's great to see some of the young boys have a win like that. The club has been through some lean times, so it was important for the boys to have a win like that and get that feeling that we can match it with some good sides.
"We know our game style matches up and that's really important for us."
South's four best players were all first-year players with the club - Cooper Leon, Oscar White, Ollie Simpson and Michael Herlihy.
VFL-listed forward Sunny Brazier played his first game for the club and was lively across half-forward.
Billy Evans, Riley Saunders and Noah Wheeler were best for the Borough.
Eaglehawk lost Brenton Conforti (hamstring tightness) and Koby Hommelhoff (corked calf) in the second quarter, but coach Travis Matheson said there was no excuse for the defeat.
"We had our chances, but we didn't take them,'' he said.
"We were a couple of goals up early in the last quarter and had a few shots at goal that we missed. We could have put the game away.
"We didn't and South Bendigo ran the game out stronger than we did. Full credit to South, they deserved it."
Eaglehawk should return to the winners' list next week at home against Castlemaine, while South Bendigo travels to Kyneton for a night clash with the Tigers.
Read more: Catch up on all the latest BFNL news
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark bendigoadvertiser.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter @BgoAddy
- Follow us on Instagram @bendigoadvertiser
- Join us on Facebook
- Follow us on Google News