The home side restricted Doug Strang Medal leader Michael Newton (three goals) and Josh Porter to five majors in the 11.9 (75) to 9.12 (66) upset.

“We put a lot of time into how they play and the players executed that perfectly,” jubilant coach Daryn Cresswell said.

“We know they are really tough around the contest and the two key forwards, obviously, are pretty dangerous, so we held a few back to help out and tried to get some run when we got some control of the ball.”

However, it’s not all good news with midfield maestro Brodie Filo inconvenienced by a knee injury.

“He had to play deep forward in the second half, so he didn’t have a lot of impact on the game through that injury,” Cresswell said.

“It was pretty courageous to play on, but we’ll see how it goes.”

The absence of the mercurial Filo would prove critical in the club’s hopes of working through the traffic jam to nab a finals berth.

However, Raiders took a major step in defence after entering the round with the worst record of the seven contenders.

“Everyone knows we’re quick and everyone knows we can carry the footy, but the other part of that is defending it,” Cresswell said.

“We’ve been working pretty hard on that element of our game, so to keep a side like Wangaratta to 66 points on a big open ground is a credit to the players.”

Underrated defender Dean Giles played well on Newton, while Jack Di Mizio and Aaron Spargo rotated on the hard-working Porter, who was outstanding with 16 marks against premiers Albury the previous week.

“Di Mizio played on Porter for much of the second half and kept him to only one or two marks,” Cresswell said.

Wangaratta’s score was its third-lowest this season and, more worryingly, it was the second successive week it’s been restricted to under 70 points.

The Pies landed the season’s most inaccurate tally of 7.18 against Albury, with the dynamic duo in Newton and Porter landing all bar one of those goals.