EFL 2018: Blackburn climbs back into Division 1 top five with crucial victory over Doncaster

THE past month was always going to tell a tale for Blackburn’s Eastern Football League season. And so it proved on Saturday when the Burners scored a 24-point win over Doncaster.

THE past month was always going to tell a tale for Blackburn’s season.

And so it proved on Saturday when the Burners scored a 24-point win over Doncaster, keeping the Sharks to just one goal after halftime to pull away to a 11.7 (73) to 6.13 (49) victory at Schramms Reserve.

After wins over Norwood, Vermont and now Doncaster in the past month, Blackburn has dislodged Balwyn from fifth to move back into the top five for the first time in a month.

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“Three and one we were going to be really happy with, 2-2 you sort of accept and anything below that you’re sort of scratching your head,” Blackburn coach Brendan Allen said.

“If you look back on this four (games) before we started, you probably thought Rowville wouldn’t have been the one we would drop.

“Our record on the road is now 5-1 and we’re 3-3 at home so we’re travelling pretty well and it helps at three-quarter time when you look up and there’s just a sea of red, our supporters are fantastic with us.”

Blackburn is back in the EFL top five after a pivotal win on Saturday.

Doncaster trailed by 20 points at the final change but was kicking with what Allen estimated was a “four or five-goal breeze” in the last quarter.

But the Sharks were kept to 1.3 in the final 30 minutes, falling to their second consecutive loss to leave their place in the top three up for grabs ahead of assignments against South Croydon and Vermont in the next fortnight.

Blackburn was forced to cover for Tyler Faulkner (hamstring), Tim Watkins (ill) and Ben McIntyre, with the trio pulling out before the game.

Jake Hammond was the star up forward with five goals in one of his best showings of the year, while Xavier Murphy and Nick Gray led the Burners midfield brigade.

“It’s a testament to the program that we want to run in that it doesn’t matter who goes down, the next soldier stands up and just gets the job done,” Allen said.

“We were pretty even across the board … I didn’t even realise Jake kicked five, he was just doing his job but all of a sudden it is the end result of the team work.

“We’re really starting to jell as a side where it is not just five or six individuals, its 18 blokes on the field working as one.”

Elsewhere in Division 1, nine goals from Vermont forward Jake Best helped Vermont return to the winner’s circle after a 169-point romp over battling Knox on Saturday.

The Eagles had dropped two consecutive games for the first time in nearly four years but Best and Brett Eddy combined for 15 majors to give their side a 29.30 (204) to 5.5 (35) win.

Vermont’s score was the biggest in Division 1 since Blackburn kicked 33.12 (210) in Round 18, 2014.