Russells Creek coach Dylan Herbertson said his side would take plenty of confidence from its drought-breaking Warrnambool and District league win against Nirranda on Saturday, June 29.
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The Creekers defeated the Blues 9.7 (61) to 6.10 (46) in the round 12 fixture which, according to online results, is the first time they have defeated the two-time reigning premiers since round 17, 2013.
Dylan Burns was a standout for the Creekers while Luke Weel impressed for the Blues.
Creekers skipper Tom Smith kicked a game-high four goals.
The game was a see-sawing affair, with only one goal kicked at one particular end of the ground.
Herbertson praised his team's pressure in wet conditions against the competition's benchmark outfit.
"Our biggest focus this week was high intensity pressure around the footy, just keep rolling up to contest after contest and to the boys credit they did a really good job," he said.
"I think obviously the more pressure you have around ball carriers and stuff like that, the more turnovers you're going to cause and obviously once we got those turnovers it was capitalising on those and getting a scoring shot from it."
The Creekers sit fourth on the ladder, just a win behind the second-placed Blues.
Elsewhere, Allansford jumped over the Blues into first spot with a commanding victory against Dennington.
Ruckman Zach Jamieson shone for the Cats as they triumphed 15.11 (101) to 4.9 (33).
Cats spearhead Robbie Hare finished with seven goals, taking his season tally to a mighty 71 goals from just 10 games.
In the remaining match-ups, Merrivale defeated South Rovers 15.20 (110) to 1.6 (12) and Timboon Demons accounted for Panmure 8.11 (59) to 4.5 (29).