EFL 2018: Montrose all but secures its place in the top flight after a 19-point win over North Ringwood

MONTROSE can effectively start planning for life in the Eastern Football League Premier division in 2019 after a 19-point win over North Ringwood.

EFL Division 1 football: East Ringwood v Montrose at East Ringwood Reserve. Montrose player Sam Gibson made a successful comeback after treatment for leukaemia with the demons getting up for an emotional win. Picture:AAP/ Chris Eastman

IF it wasn’t already, it should be now.

Montrose recorded consecutive wins for just the fourth time in the past three seasons to all but secure its place in the 2019 Premier division.

But after leading by 52 points at halftime, the Demons had to survive a late push from North Ringwood before finishing with a 13.8 (86) to 9.13 (67) victory.

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Montrose slotted 11 first-half goals but could manage just 2.2 after the main break, while the Saints kicked 6.11 in the second half after booting just 3.2 in the first half.

“I didn’t see that coming after halftime but I was sort of expecting it,” Montrose coach Peter Bastinac said of North Ringwood’s comeback.

“North Ringwood’s patterns this year have been that they hang in games, they don’t go away and I knew they would come at us.

“To our boys’ credit, we still won the game, even though our second half wasn’t as polished as our first half but I think that was more credit to North Ringwood, really.”

Bastinac said he was always comfortable Montrose would survive North Ringwood’s push for an unlikely victory.

Montrose coach Peter Bastinac. Picture: James Ross/AAP

“I don’t think they got close enough, really,” he said.

“To be 52 points up at halftime, it was going to take a mighty effort for them to get in front so I think they spent a lot of tickets in that third quarter and we were able to hang on.”

After starting the season 4-2, North Ringwood has won just one of its past seven games, which came against winless Knox in Round 9.

The result put the Demons three games clear of the relegation zone ahead of East Ringwood with five rounds remaining in the Eastern Football League Division 1 season.

One more victory would guarantee the Roos demotion to the second tier for the first time since 1973.

Former Box Hill Hawk Sam Gibson was again in Montrose’s best players after making an inspiration return from a cancer battle earlier this year.

Gibson was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in February but has proven to be a vital acquisition for the Demons.

Bastinac said Gibson would figure highly in Montrose’s best and fairest.

“Sam has been super, for him to be able to do what he has been doing, I reckon he’d be one of a few that would be up there,” he said.

In Division 2, Lilydale suffered just its second loss of the season after a 26-point defeat against Park Orchards, while Mulgrave enjoyed its first win of the season after a four-point triumph over Mooroolbark.

In Division 4, Kilsyth fell two games outside the top four after a 77-point defeat against Whitehorse Pioneers, while Coldstream suffered a 13-point defeat against Forest Hill.