Lavington comes from behind to defeat Wodonga by nine points

The visitors kicked a paltry 2.10 in the first half to trail by 14 points, but restricted the Bulldogs to only four goals from there to post a 9.17 (71) to 9.8 (62) win.

It's been a diabolical season for Lavington, which has become the first premiers in 35 years to miss finals the next season.

The club has deservedly received criticism for 'falling off the radar' so rapidly, but it also deserves praise for the win over the Bulldogs.

Both teams went into the penultimate round with only four wins, albeit four rounds were cancelled due to COVID.

Lavington had the look of a team which couldn't wait for the season to finish, while the Bulldogs would have been happy with another few months after producing successive three-point losses to top five outfits Albury and Wodonga Raiders, prior to the month-long COVID break.

And in the first half, it followed that pattern with the home team's pressure forcing the Panthers into error.

However, the visitors kicked 7.7 to 4.2 after half-time to finish the season on a high, given the last round is expected to be cancelled.

"I said to a few people after the game that was always the belief when I first went to Lavington you could be down and out, but you never went out on the field thinking you weren't going to win," veteran Adam Butler explained.

"The young kids stepped up, Darcy (Smith), Macca (Hallows), Nick Brennan in his first game.

"And of the older blokes, Brant Dickson played in the ruck and took all the footy out of there and kicked it forward and 'Garlo' (captain Luke Garland) stood up and took some really courageous marks.

"It was a fantastic feeling in the end, it felt like we had a bit of belief and more desire."

Butler had the game's toughest job, marking Werribee forward Hudson Garoni, who kicked six goals.

In his only other game this year, Garoni booted seven on Dickson.

And while the Panthers couldn't contain him, they made sure he was a one-man scoring band, allowing only three other goals.

Marty Brennan bagged three majors to feature, while Hallows, Josh Klemke and Smith were also terrific.

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Cody Szust and Josh Mathey also featured for the Bulldogs, while debutant Ollie Hollands impressed.

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