Wahgunyah is celebrating its first win in 1036 days after notching a nail biting nine point win over Dederang-Mt Beauty at Wahgunyah on Saturday.
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The embattled Lions last belted out their club song in June 2021 after a win against Beechworth.
Trailing by one point at the final change the Lions were able to finally end one of the longest winless droughts in league history after they booted five goals to three in the final term.
The 15.8 (98) to 12.17 (89) sparked wild celebrations and tears of joy among the players and supporters after finally ending their 40-match winless streak.
The Lions swung a selection surprise after former AFL excitement machine Harley Bennell flew over from Perth to play for the league battlers.
Bennell booted six goals including three early in the final term to prove the difference between the two sides.
Wahgunyah coach Chris Willis was thrilled to deliver the club its first win and said it was priceless to see the sheer joy on the faces of long-suffering players and supporters.
"I'm just over the moon to see everybody who has stuck by the club during arguably its darkest period to finally get some reward," Willis said.
"There were a lot of tears of joy and there was even a guard of honour as we walked off the ground.
"It's not often you see grown men cry but the win just meant so much after three years of pain.
"I personally haven't been involved with the club for that long but I'm just so proud of everyone.
"Proud of all those who stuck fat during tough times and it's no secret we have been on the receiving end of plenty of floggings over the past two years and a bit.
"It was an amazing day for the club and everybody involved."
Willis revealed some players struggled to remember the words of the club's theme song after having not belted it out for so long.
"There would have been 120 of us singing the song in the clubrooms," he said.
"There was a lot of jumbling of words and a lot of noise being made.
"Some of the locals did struggle to remember the words but we just tried to lift the roof off.
"It was a special moment we all savoured."
Adding further merit to the win the Lions trailed for most of the contest but lifted in the last-term buoyed by a boisterous crowd with the club hosting a past players day which was well attended.
"We were down a point at the last change and there was a massive crowd at the huddle," Willis said.
"The boys were fired up and we switched Harley from the midfield to the goal square and he was able to provide the spark with three early goals to give us some breathing space.
"I think we got more than four goals in front before Dederang got a goal and we responded.
"It was an arm-wrestle before the opposition rattled off three quick goals to get within nine points and the heat was on.
"We just tried to chew up the time and there were probably five or six ruck contests in a row, near the benches.
"They were in attack again when the siren finally sounded.
"I said to the players before and after the game that no team is going to hand us our first win and sure enough we had to fight to the finish to get the job done.
"They certainly made us earn it."
Bennell was best on ground with six goals while Joshua Dwyer, Alex Lavis and Nathan Lau all played pivotal roles in the drought breaking win.
