Trailing by four goals at three-quarter time with only 2.6 (18) to their name, the Demons sparked into life, kicking five last-term goals to stun a wounded Country Eagles outfit 7.8 (50) to 7.6 (48).

Beau and Levi Tuthill were relentless for the Demons, while Reuben Rothwell and coach Thane Bardenhagen both stood up when the game was on the line. 

Bardenhagen said his side had ‘stolen’ a win in the last quarter.

“I said to the boys at three-quarter time ‘we know we can score and score quickly so we’re definitely not out, we’ll tick them off one by one’ and that’s what we did,” Bardenhagen said. 

“One quarter of footy’s not going to win us a grand final but it won us a game today, so we’ll take it and reset and we’ve got things to work on and improve.”

RELATED: Photos from Lilydale vs Evandale 

Lilydale started with a three-goal burst in the first five minutes of the last term, and took the lead for the first time 15 minutes in when Lincoln Jackson snapped truly from 30 metres out.

With five minutes to go, a 50-metre bomb from Thomas Chugg edged Evandale ahead before Bardenhagen outsmarted three Eagles defenders to bundle through the match-winner.

The Demons will now have a week off to prepare for the grand final at Windsor Park. 

“We were in the exact same position last year and we won by a point in the same game and we probably treated that as our grand final, so I want to keep a lid on it this year.

“We’ve got a job ahead of us and we’re not happy unless we get the big one done.”

Evandale could perhaps count itself unlucky having been the better side for the first three quarters, pressuring their opposition through the middle and making the most of scoring chances in a game where both sides struggled to make incisive forward fifty entries. 

After being on the right side of a thriller last week, Country Eagles coach Anthony Axton was philosophical about the result and said his side would reload for next week’s preliminary final. 

“It’s a funny game, if the siren goes a minute earlier it’s probably one of the club’s most famous wins,” Axton said.

“For it to go a minute later and go down it’s very disappointing but I’m super proud of the boys and now we’ve got to bounce back.”

Axton said his side fought valiantly after losing full-back Daniel Newton and full-forward Shaun Collis to injury before half-time.

“We were down to nothing on the bench starting the last quarter so it was always going to be a gutsy effort, and the boys held on as long as they could and I was super proud of them.

“But that’s the side Lilydale are, if you give them a sniff... we couldn’t quite play that contested brand of footy we had for three quarters because of the lack of rotations.”

Old Scotch meet East Coast in Sunday’s knockout semi-final.