Despite having 13 less scoring shots, the Mustangs took their chances when they presented and claimed a 12.2 (74) to 7.20 (62) victory.
Reservoir coach Ross Terranova paid tribute to his team’s fighting spirit after looking in serious trouble in the opening 10 minutes of the match.
“I think in big games like this players do tend to take while to settle down,” he said.
“Our group is a new group and sometimes you do wonder what will happen next. But credit to the boys they just kept on persisting and got themselves back in the game and anything can happen when there are only two points in it at three-quarter time and fortunately our boys ran the game out to the end.”
Terranova said his side had set itself to claim a big scalp after falling to close losses in its three previous games against top two sides Mernda and Panton Hill.
“We spoke about it during the week and we just wanted to stick fat today and persist and four points is what we wanted from the day and that’s what we got,” he said.
“The score line certainly would have been different had Mernda kicked straight. Our boys took our chances and I think the boys really wanted to win this game. We really wanted to take a big scalp after losing some close ones to the top sides.”
With Rohan Davies and David Hutchinson dominating through the middle of the ground, Mernda was superb early in proceedings and raced to a 15-0 lead after 10 minutes.
The Demons continued to dominate throughout the remainder of the quarter but could manage only a further six behinds as they headed into quarter-time with a wasteful 2.9 to Reservoir’s two straight goals.
Their woes in front of goals continued into the second term when they added 1.5 to the Mustangs’ 3.0 – heading into half-time with a two-point lead despite having 12 more scoring shots.
Cameron Curlis was the major culprit, kicking four behinds from set shots within 40m of goal.
The worst of the misses came from Nicholas Matkin who streamed into an open goal before trying to pass to an unopposed Curlis in the goal square. The kick from 20m out had too much on it and floated over Curlis’ head and in for a minor score.
Conversely, Reservoir could not miss down the other end with lively Ashley Flavel breaking two tackles to kick a superb goal from 20m, before Leigh Sullivan slotted a set shot from deep in the forward pocket.
The home side hit the front for the first time early in the third when Flavel kicked his third from a free kick. The lead changed three more times for the quarter with the sides trading goals.
Leading by three points at the final change, Mernda had the best opportunities early in the final quarter but could manage just three behinds and an out-on-the-full from its four shots at goal.
Ryan Docherty and Jarrod Skinner then began getting their hands on the footy through the middle of the ground which enabled Reservoir to break the game open.
Kael Beaumont snapped the first goal of the final term at the 10 minute-mark which put the Mustangs one point in front, before Toby O’Meara extended the lead to seven after marking strongly in the goal square from a Docherty pass.
Following goals from Cameron Rooney and Flavel – after some fine build-up work from Skinner and Marc Defelice – stretched Reservoir’s lead to 19 points and the game looked over.
However, Mernda rallied and kicked two goals in two minutes through Tim Atkins and Curlis to cut the lead to six with five minutes remaining.
With the game hanging in the balance, Jason Farralla fell into O’Meara’s back in a marking contest and Reservoir’s leading goal kicker had no trouble converting the free kick from 35m to shut the door on the Demons’ comeback.
The win leaves Reservoir sitting in third place on the Division 3 ladder with eight wins and four losses, and Terranova said his side needed to play with the same intensity and determination leading into the finals.
“We have to keep a positive mindset and I’ve already told the boys to enjoy it but we’ve got St Mary’s next week and another four games to go.
“Anything can happen so we’ve just got to continue with the same mindset and attitude and believe that we can win big games of footy. As I say to the boys, the game is played 90 per cent above the shoulders so if they believe in themselves anything can happen.
“If you have a look at our losses this year, the most we’ve gone down by is 25 points so we’ve never been too far away. We got a big scalp today and hopefully we can continue to win big games in the latter part of the season.”
Final score: Reservoir 12.2 (74) def Mernda 7.20 (62)
