EFL 2019: The Basin and Ringwood score first draw in Eastern Football League season
The Basin coach Justin Stanton believes there will be a breakaway group in Division 2, expecting five sides set to fight for the fourth spot in finals.
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The Basin coach Justin Stanton expects there to be a breakaway group in Division 2.
The Bears have experienced every result possible in their first three weeks after sharing the points with Ringwood on Saturday after the sides couldn’t be separated at 10.9 (69) apiece.
It was the third close game in as many meetings between the two clubs after the two exchanges last year were decided by a total of 10 points.
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Ringwood went through the home-and-away rounds undefeated last year but had to wait until Round 3 for its first points of the campaign after going winless through its first two games.
The Basin led by two goals with just minutes remaining but coach Justin Stanton said his side was let down by “poor decision making, lapses in concentration and lack of discipline” in the final stages.
They held the lead at every change but the margin seldom left single figures.
“Just a real dogfight basically, a bit ugly in parts, a lot of pressure from both teams caused a lot of errors from both teams and hence it was low-scoring game,” Stanton said.
“We made some fundamental mistakes under pressure that we need to be better at.”
The Basin started the season with a 22-point win over Heathmont before slipping to a 30-point defeat against Boronia in Round 2.
“I know it’s only a very small indication of what the year’s going to be like but it’s exactly what I thought it was going to be, and that is every game is extremely difficult,” Stanton said.
“You have to be at your best every week and even if you are at your best, you may not necessarily mean you’ll get the four points.
“Time will tell whether it (draw) hurts us … you don’t know whether it’s going to put you two points out of the finals come the end of the year or whether it keeps you in the four.”
When asked if his side was capable of challenging the top sides this year, Stanton said, “I don’t think so at the moment”.
He predicted Boronia, Templestowe and Mitcham would set the pace in the eight-team Division 2.
“I think we’ll be competitive but I think we’re lacking in depth in certain parts of the ground, which unless we’re able to address by throwing the magnets around, it’s going to be a challenging year,” he said.
“If I’m being realistic, I think Templestowe are flying, and rightly so, they’ve recruited really well, Boronia is still going to be the team to beat and Mitcham is flying. There’s five playing for one (finals) spot … there’s a gap between us five and the other three.”
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