The Saints pulled off one of their most famous victories in recent years on Saturday, stunning back-to-back premiers Wangaratta Rovers by handing the Hawks their first loss of the season.

It took a blistering start and dogged determination for the full four quarters to achieve the ultimate reward, but in the end the Saints delivered, 14.11 (95) to 12.9 (81).

Myrtleford got off to a flyer, kicking six of the first seven goals of the match to establish scoreboard pressure early.

Brody Ricardi snapped the first of the day from a contest just two minutes into play, while up the other end, the Saints’ back six were resolute, limiting both the number of scoring shots the Rovers had, and also making it as challenging as possible for the Hawks’ forwards.

Matt Munro and Ricardi made the most of their chances in front of goal, before Lachlan Murphy-Dale made it four goals to none midway through the term.

Even though Alex McCarthy found a major for the Rovers, the Saints kept coming, with Ashton McPherson and Ricardi again slotting goals.

Coach Craig Millar said it was incredible to get some early scoreboard pressure after failing over the last two weeks to make the most of their chances.

“To be quite honest with you, I feel like the two games before, we’ve started the game quite well – the difference between this game and the last few weeks has been we’re able to build some scoreboard pressure,” he said.

“We defended really well, limited some of their scoring opportunities, and we were able to cash in at the other end.

“We’re really pleased with the result, I thought we’ve been playing some good footy, we just weren’t able to build scoreboard pressure and get the results we were chasing, so it was nice for the tide to turn on the weekend.”

With the early lead, the Saints were strong enough and clean enough with the footy to maintain the lead, even though the Rovers came back hard.

The margin would rapidly deteriorate, with the lead sitting at 19 points at the half and just seven by three quarter time.

“We talk about moments in games, how everyone has a turn, and clearly we had a turn in the first quarter, but you don’t win two successive flags if you’re not a good footy team – they were always going to have their turn, and they did,” Millar said.

“I was really proud we were able to hold them at arm’s length, that showed some real signs of maturity, particularly in our younger players, to play some of the phases of the game we needed to.

“They’re a good side, they had their chances, but we were just able to hold on in the end.”

Far and away the best player on the ground was Myrtleford’s big fella, Riley Smith.

The ruck-forward was highly influential across the park, taking some massive grabs and kicking clearly, finishing with three goals, and eight contested possessions.

Also on fire were Simon Curtis (32 disposals, one goal, 10 marks), Jaxon East (29 disposals, eight inside 50s), and Ashton McPherson (27 disposals, 15 contested).

“I think Smithy walked away thinking he could’ve kicked eight on the weekend,” Millar said.

“He dropped a couple of marks inside 50 and missed a couple of straightforward goals by his standard, but he was the best player on the ground by a mile.

“His influence in the ruck, to play as a midfielder and roll forward was outstanding.

“Ashton McPherson has had a really consistent year, and Simon Curtis is just so reliable - when you need someone to stand up in big moments, he’s able to do that for us, and we’re just fortunate we’ve still got him.”

The Saints now sit just two games behind frontrunners Rovers and Wangaratta Magpies – with the second edition of the Wangaratta Derby this week, Myrtleford will need to knock off Albury Tigers at the Albury Sportsground if they want to close the gap to just a single game.

Millar said while the recent result was brilliant, they needed to maintain the intensity against the Tigers this weekend.

“It just validates some of the hard work we’ve been doing behind the scenes to try and get on top of parts of the game, but we’re not naïve enough to think while the last couple of weeks haven’t been the way Albury would like them to be, and their list on paper is as good as anyone’s in the competition,” he said.

“We’ll prepare the same way we have for every other team, dot out I’s and cross our T’s, and get to work on them.

“We’ve played well against them in the past, but like I’ve said to our players in the past, don’t underestimate the opposition particularly when they’re down.

“They’re a proud footy club in their 150th year, the season’s not over, so we’ll need to play our best over there if we want to get the result we’re chasing.”

In other results from the weekend, the reserves were hammered by 80 points, and the thirds lost by 115 points.