Cranbourne slammed home 12 final-quarter goals and silenced the Dingley crowd at Souter Oval on Saturday.
The Eagles had the scoreboard ascendancy all day after starting strongly and leading by 19 points at the first change.
The lead got towards five goals in the third quarter before Dingley’s resistance was finally rewarded on the scoreboard.
Marc Holt kicked an important snap against the grain to keep the margin at 16 points going into the final quarter.
Dingley had all the running and were well revved up by coach Zach Horsley at three-quarter-time.
“This is the win of the year,” he bellowed.
“When we are where we are at the end of the year, we’ll look back at this and say this is the reason we’re in the position we’re in.”
That final statement may yet prove foreboding, though not in the way Horsley had meant it.
The home team had the momentum, crowd support and dictated terms for the third quarter as it looked like their run and transition game would overpower the visitors.
Star midfielder Zak Roscoe was tagged out of influencing the first three quarters but kept coming and got off the chain in the last quarter.
The league medal fancy got on the move at stoppages, got to repeat contests and the icing on the cake was a classy goal on the run from 50.
Roscoe skippered the side last week as Brandon Osborne remains sidelined indefinitely with injury, and he is developing the aura of a player that lifts when his team needs a spark…but it was a full team lift after the last change.
“I just thought we were getting outworked,” said coach Steve O’Brien.
“I put it on individuals to be a leader, and I felt like we did that.
“We played the way we wanted to play in the last quarter.”
“We know if you give them they’re game, they’re hard to stop because they do it so well.
“They use the ball really well, so if they get that overlap on you, they’re going to score, so that was a big focus for us, and we were able to get our game going off the back of that.
“That balance between defence and attack is what we’ve got to fine tune.
“At times, I think we’ve swayed far too one way. Sometimes it’s too defensive, and sometimes it’s too offensive.
“We’ll keep fine tuning that balance and we’re playing around with a few different roles so those boys need to adjust to that.”
Jarryd Barker scored a similar long-range goal to Roscoe’s.
Rucks Michael Boland and Jake Stephens gave their team ascendancy in the midfield when it mattered.
Kirk Dickson kicked the first goal inside a minute of the last quarter to stifle and swing the momentum.
The centre-half-forward finished with three to continue his streak of multiple goals in every game this year.
“He’s a quality player and we love what he brings to us,” O’Brien said.
“He competes so hard and he’s a tough matchup.
“He’s not overly tall but he’s strong in the air, good at ground level and he’s been a good player for a few years now.
“For so long, he’s played second fiddle to (Marc Holt), and then when it looked like he wasn’t playing, (Kirk) stepped up and made a real focus on a scoreboard impact.
“Obviously the big fella has come back, but ‘Dicko’ has maintained that mentality and they’ve complemented each other really well.”
Matt Allister’s purple patch continued.
After 23 disposals, seven intercept marks and four spoils last week, he was another who cashed in on the scoreboard, while playing his role expertly.
Alongside veteran Luke Bee-Hugo and stand-in skipper Dylan Cavalot, Allister had the most complete performance.
After Cranbourne won it at the coalface in the first term, Barker and Cavalot capitalised on the attention Roscoe received, the second and early part of the third quarter was an ugly arm wrestle.
Cranbourne had more territory but didn’t look like scoring as defenders Kristen Feehan, Cam Hansen and Michael Dolan were staunch.
Lochie Benton provided creativity and run off halfback as best afield performances become second nature, with his work finally translating into some promising looks in the third quarter.
After the Eagles had the first three shots if the third term, debutante Mitch Cook won a holding the ball free kick and calmly slotted it from 50.
That started Dingley’s brief run, and his spriteliness and pressure was among the green shoots Horsley drew on post game.
With seven missing, Dingley put faith in the youngsters who had come through the club’s well-regarded junior program.
Six players aged 20-years-old or younger took the field, with Zac White, Jordan Letts and Cook all showing glimpses but running out of puff.
The silver-lining was their competitiveness as they stayed with the reigning premiers until three-quarter-time, but Port Melbourne is on the horizon, the result to be telling in the top five seedings.
Meanwhile, Springvale Districts has smashed a listless St Kilda City, with five players scoring three goals and six multiple goal scorers in total.
Stefan Feehan was a target inside 50 and named best on ground, and winger Matt Thompson ran hard on the wing with the Dees piling on 15 goals after the main break to boost their percentage.
Mordialloc’s upset win over St Paul’s McKinnon has done Kris Thompson’s Dees a major favour as they look to secure a top five berth.
Results: Chelsea Heights 7.9 51, Port Melbourne Colts 8.18 66, Mordialloc 13.5 83 v St Paul’s McKinnon 11.10 76, St Kilda City 4.4 28 v Springvale Districts 20.24 144, Dingley 5.4 34 v Cranbourne 17.10 112, Bentleigh 8.10 58 v Cheltenham 13.12 90
Ladder: Cheltenham 40, Cranboourne 36, Dingley 32, Springvale Districts 32, Port Melbourne Colts 28, St Paul’s McKinnon 24, Chelsea Heights 8, Bentleigh 8, Mordialloc 8, St Kilda City 4.
Fixture: Mordialloc v St Kilda City, Port Melbourne Colts v Dingley, Cranbourne v Bentleigh, St Paul’s McKinnon v Cheltenham, Springvale Districts v Chelsea Heights
