Wanderers went on to dominate for the next 10 minutes, but couldn’t penetrate the Town’s gutsy forwards, led by captain/coach Ben Watt.

The persistence paid off and eventually Town had the ball deep into Wanderers’ territory.

This paved the way for lock Andy McGrath to weave through the Devils’ defence and score a much-needed try to level the scores.

But in the space of six minutes, Wanderers went bang, bang to put on another two tries.

Ironically, the saviour for the Devils was Lord.

Making the right wing his own, the 22-year-old scored both four pointers to give Wanderers a 20-10 lead.

Despite the cheers from the crowd, the Wanderers faithful weren’t going overboard, knowing Town would surely mount a counterattack.

It came.

Starting with a kick from Zeb Kyle which bounced favourably for Jim Wreford, Town put on another six points to bring the margin back to four.

In reply, Marshall scored his second to put it back to 26-16, but through Kuskey and Jeremy Kiernan, Town were able to square the ledger by the 71st minute.

Regarded as the best eight minutes of rugby league seen at Alec Inch Oval this year, both sides threw everything into scoring the next point.

Town came close, then Wanderers had a crack, but no side could find a gap in the opposition defence.

With a minute to go, just as QRL development officer Dick Walsh was preparing to announce the details of extra time, Seymour let the tackle on Goddard slip high, giving the Devils the key penalty.

The rest, as they say, is history.

As expected, the predominant Wanderers crowd went wild after the siren.

The champagne was rolled out for the players as they went straight to the grand stand to applaud their supporters.

Some players, including man-of-the-match Marshall, were still pinching themselves, not believing they had won the game.

While Town had two standout performers - Watt and Kuskey - it was hard pinpointing the best player for Wanderers.

Marshall and Lord were both brilliant, but the likes of Davin Turner, Troy Carpenter, Carl Bambrick and Martin Taylor were superb.

Wanderers’ coach Daryl Duncan pointed out club president Tim O’Sullivan as his star player.

With positions up for grabs during the week, O’Sullivan pulled his name from selection to allow Lord to play, which proved a winning decision.

Lord, who moved to Mount Isa from Wagga Wagga in New South Wales two years ago, said it was the first time he had ever scored a hat-trick.

Making his performance even more brilliant was the fact he underwent a fitness test on Friday night.

Struggling earlier in the week with a chipped bone in his upper leg, Lord was considered no chance of playing in the grand final.

But he proved his fitness on the eve of the game to become a Wanderers hero.

Although bitterly disappointed, Town coach Ben Watt remained positive after the game.

“Obviously it would have been nice to win but we weren’t good enough on the day,” he said.

“It was a brilliant game and even though it wasn’t the best for us, we should be proud of our efforts.

“Sometimes the ball bounced our way, sometimes it bounced their way - there wasn’t much between us all day.”

Watt, who was named Mount Isa Rugby League’s player of the year after the game, praised Jamie Williams, Jackson Seymour, Rob Willis and Kuskey for their efforts in the match.

The coach also confirmed he is staying with the club in 2010.

Anton Saltmere, who kicked the winning goal, said it was an unbelievable feeling.

“It was a dream come true,” he said.

“I was having a hard time getting my heart beat down before the kick, but I’m just so thankful it went through.”