A resurgent Lockhart took a giant stride towards securing a finals berth after scoring a stunning 13-point victory over flag contender Jindera at Lockhart on Saturday.
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The accurate Demons moved from sixth to fifth on the ladder after winning 13.9 (87) to 10.14 (74) despite having two less scoring shots than the Bulldogs.
Demons defender Hunter Lloyd was instrumental in the win after he kept star spearhead Trent Castles goalless for one of the rare times during his career.
Key forward Will McGrath also missed for the Bulldogs which made it hard for the visitors to manufacture a winning score after Castles delivered a donut.
The Bulldogs have now lost successive matches after also going down against RWW Giants the previous week to slip to third on the ladder with an 8-3 record.
They will now most likely have to defeat Holbrook this weekend to have any chance of finishing top-two and with the prized double chance during September.
Lockhart coach Tom Keogh revealed he was confident of claiming the big scalp of the Bulldogs with his side yet to drop a match at home so far this season.
"We were pretty confident going in and it was a huge win in regards to our finals aspirations," Keogh said.
"We beat them last year and I know this year is a different competition.
"But I feel at home now when we are close to full-strength, our expectations have changed to previous years and we expect to win now.
"I think we may be under-rated externally by a few sides... so I'm not super surprised and neither were our supporters by the win to be honest.
"But it was a big scalp and came at the right time of the season to give us a bit of breathing space inside that top-six."
Patrick Killalea, Reid Gordon, Brad Aylett, Chayte Burkinshaw and Charlie Schneider all played their role in the win.
Young ruckman Tom Findley and defender Mitch Anderson were the Bulldogs' best.
Keogh was full of praise for Lloyd's blanketing role on Castles.
"The job Hunter did on Castles was unreal," he said.
"I played with Trent at Mangoplah and I rate him highly as a really good forward.
"So stopping Trent was a big focus in the lead-up and to be able to execute that went a long way to us winning on the weekend.
"We had some good passages of play throughout the match which was also pleasing.
"We also had some poor passages of play where we got stuck in a bit of rut.
"But it was all about getting the win and we were able to do that, so now we move onto next week.
"I don't think we are guaranteed a finals berth by any means because there are some good sides like Henty and Billabong Crows who are outside the top-six but are still dangerous opponents."
Keogh said he still remained hopeful that spearhead Ron Harley Middleton could make a return in the countdown to finals who has been missing since round 3 with a knee injury.
"We were still missing a few on Saturday, Ron didn't play and Angus Grigg who finished runner-up in our best and fairest last year," he said.
"Ron and Angus would be both massive inclusions because they have hardly both played this year.
"I don't know if Ron will play again this year with his knee injury but it will certainly be a bonus if he does."
