Not even the presence of a thief and a centre square with more craters than the moon could take thesmiles off the Magoos’ faces on Saturday.

It was a character-building win and one which was highly important. A loss would have left us 3-5 and in dire straits as far as September was concerned. Now we’re just out of the four on percentage and with the same win-loss record as we had this stage last year.

Ed Mitchell was the star of the show with six goals. Like Matthew Lloyd, who tosses up blades of grass as part of his goal-kicking routine, and Quinten Lynch, who removes his glove, Mitch has his own formula. He turfs out his mouthguard.

Luckily for the OMs, it came out numerous times. He bagged six goals in a dominant performance.

"I wished I was in that sort of form at the moment," Cheesecake said after the game. "It reminded me of how I was playing last year."

Mitch’s brother James was also in fine form. While Ed bagged the goals, James was taking important marks around the ground.

"Ed always gets the attention. Even when we were kids. Look how cute Ed is. Look what Ed’s done in the sandpit. Isn’t Ed clever for picking the trifecta in that last race," big Mitch said after the game to supporters. "Pfft. It’s easy marking them lace out but I was taking clutch marks today."

After a lacklustre first three quarters, the OMs, fired up by an impassioned speech from coach Carty, turned it on in the final term.

Trailing by nearly four goals the OMs kicked 4.8 to Caulfield’s one behind. Mitch bagged two, Cheese kicked one and Konrad von Spies was handed a Christmas present by the Caulfield full-back who from a behind kicked the ball straight to Konrad standing just outside the goal square.

Tim Horne played like a man who had too much Red Bull. He threw himself at the ball with little fear for his safety, as did Konrad, who had no recollection of the game after being hit in the head.

"Did we win?" Konrad asked Carts after singing the team song.

"You bet we did," said an eavesdropping Jozza.

Thanks to Jozza for goal umpiring and James Ray for running the boundary.

OLD MELBURNIANS 3.2-20 6.2-38 6.4-40 10.12-72
CAULFIELD GRAM. 3.2-20 8.4-52 9.9-63 9.10-64
Goal Kickers: E. Mitchell 6, K. Spies 2, G. Tsiotras, J. Slater
Best Players: L. Haralambous, J. Mitchell, E. Mitchell, T. Horne, C. Righetti, N. Peters

Tags: Carty, Mitchell, Spies, Tsiotras