PARKSIDE went some way to eradicating the ghosts of 2009, moving into the Western Region Football League division2 preliminary final at the expense of the Deer Park Lions.

Payback was sweet for the Magpies as they eliminated the foes from the premiership race with a commanding 23-point win at Crofts Reserve on Sunday.

A little less than 12 months ago, the raging-hot-favorite Magpies were downed by the Lions in the season decider.

They were not about to fall for the same trick.

The Magpies had to do it without the services of coach David Orchard, who received a one-match ban for an on-field indiscretion while playing in the Magpies seconds a week earlier.

He was not allowed to communicate with his players and the coaching duties were handed to caretaker player-coach Nathan Juegan and assistant Wayne Tyrell.

Orchard was allowed to look on as a spectator and liked what he saw from the boys in the black and white stripes.

"Watching from the outside looking in, I couldn't have been more proud of the boys," he said.

"They got on with the job; we spoke about that on Thursday night as to who does what and each of the boys did that to perfection. Everyone that had a job to do from Thursday night executed that job to perfection."

Juegan made his presence felt in an outstanding performance. "He's very hard to match up on with his size and he marks well and kicks well," Orchard

said.

Chris Muratore had the most sizeable task of any Magpie.

The captain put his hand up for a run-with role on the Lions' top-shelf midfielder Luke Summers and won the battle.

Chris Thompson was the most lively of the Magpies forwards with three goals.

Orchard could not find a weak link in his side.

He said it was "one in, all in" after a dramatic week.

The Magpies leader also hit out at the "so-called" experts who had written his team off.

"For all the people out there who want to continue doing that, it's to their own peril," he said.

"We're not here to make up the numbers."

The Magpies will head into their re-match with Albanvale in the preliminary final at JK Grant Reserve, Altona, on Sunday with plenty of confidence.

The Cobras won their recent meeting by 20 points in week one of the

finals.

Lance Jenkinson