The margin had nothing to do with his delight. Rather, he thought the performance was his team’s best defensive effort of the season.

The Panthers’ constant pressure limited the Raiders to just four goals for the match.

Lavington is yet to concede more than 10 goals in a game this year.

“I was really pleased,” Saker said.

“We spoke a lot during the week and it was good to see us put a few of those things into action.

“It was our best defensive effort in terms of the pressure we applied.”

Livewire Jay Banks was the key instigator in that department.

He also kicked four goals.

Adam Prior bounced back strongly from a disappointing showing against Albury, kicking seven goals.

He had more than 10 shots on goal and took a power of marks inside 50.

“He presented really well,” Saker said.

“As a team, we weren’t as clean as we’d have liked but we really limited the amount of easy kicks they had.

“As a back six, we weren’t really required too much because of the pressure we applied up field.”

The Raiders struggled to get the ball into attack, limiting the opportunities of star forward Dean Limbach.

Jack Di Mizio battled hard in defence.

In another big plus for the Panthers, gun midfielder Luke Garland starred in his first game back from injury.