– Click here for our picture gallery of the big game
DETRACTORS of Manor Lakes have gone into hiding for a week at least.
The Storm were accused of beating no one of finals ilk and being handed a soft draw in their first Western Region Football League division 2 season.
Perceptions might have shifted on Saturday after the Storm claimed a big scalp in last year’s runners-up Parkside in a two-point thriller at Howqua Reserve.
“Everyone has been saying that we’ve only been beating the lower sides, so we had a point to prove and that’s what happened,” Storm vice- president Brad Syme told the Weekly.
“We were pretty determined to win this one.
“The boys have got a lot of belief and that’s what got us across the line.”
You could not have asked for a better advertisement for second-tier football.
A hard-at-it game played in the wet to usher in winter, it came right down to the wire. With the Storm trailing by less than a kick with 20 seconds to go, youngster Ben Lancaster set up front and centre of a pack, read the ball off hands and snapped over his shoulder to put the Storm in front.
Parkside made one last push in the dying seconds, delivering the ball deep into the forward line, only for the siren to beat them.
Like the moments after a grand final win, the jubilant Storm players piled one by one on each other to celebrate an unforgettable win.
“It was sensational,” Syme said. “It was heart-in-mouth stuff for us. That’s our first big scalp in the competition; it’s one that everyone will remember.”
Lancaster was an unlikely hero for the Storm. Usually used in defence, the 19-year-old was let off the leash as a result of a mounting injury list.
At first, the former Caroline Springs under-18 captain was used in a tagging role, then he was told to cause havoc inside forward 50 and did so with two goals.
“He really lifted for us,” Syme said.
It was a game of momentum swings.
The Storm had the better of the first half, leading by 17 points at the main break.
Ruckman Mitch Anthony, onballers Nathan Montague and Frank Pavez, and half-back Shaun Gill stood out.
Parkside was not going away, piling on five goals to nil in the third quarter to take a 13-point lead into the last term.
The Storm, with the aid of a slight breeze, booted the last two goals of the game to claim victory and silence their critics.
In other division 2 matches, one-time Western Bulldogs-listed player Paul O’Shea booted 13 goals in Wyndhamvale’s 176-point thrashing of North Sunshine at Dempster Park.
Damien Yze snared nine goals for Glenorden in a 172-point belting of Braybrook at Pennell Reserve.
Danny Hutcheson was named best as new boys Sanctuary Lakes led at every change to beat West Footscray by 27 points at Featherbrook Reserve.
