EFL: East Ringwood scores first win of the Division 1 season after a 62-point victory over winless Knox
AFTER a string of near misses to start the season, East Ringwood’s campaign received a much-needed shot in the arm with a 62-point win triumph over winless Knox at.
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THEY were due.
After a string of near misses to start the season, East Ringwood’s campaign received a much-needed shot in the arm on Saturday with a 62-point triumph over winless Knox at East Ringwood Reserve.
The Roos combined losing margin in the first three rounds was just 15 points to leave Marcus Buzaglo’s side facing the prospect of becoming the first East Ringwood side to be relegated from the top tier.
But the Roos got themselves on the board with a 16.26 (122) to 9.6 (60) win, all but sealing Knox’s relegation fate.
Making the win even more significant for the Roos was Montrose’s near-miss against Blackburn, with the Demons falling two points short of maintaining their two-game advantage over the relegation zone.
East Ringwood never looked like losing on a sun-drenched afternoon, taking an 18-point lead into quarter-time before five unanswered goals in the second term helped the margin balloon out to 43 points at the long break.
Former Gold Coast player Leigh Osborne kept popping up like a whack-a-mole to be the Roos’ best, while Tristan Tweedie also starred down back before kicking two goals in the final term.
Buzaglo said the Roos’ 0-6 start had not been a “true reflection” of his side’s ability.
“It’s a hard one, I’m a bit of a realist when it comes to footy and the facts were we were 0-6 but I certainly think there are some promising signs there,” he said.
“Our good footy is good but we lapse in games but I think Saturday was pretty much a four-quarter performance.”
With two sides to be relegated at the end of the year, Buzaglo said he had not spoken to his players about the importance of remaining in the competition’s top tier.
“We’ve just got to keep working hard, which we have been, and hopefully win enough games to stay up but we don’t want to be making up the numbers in Division 1 as we have been,” he said.
“We want to start to become a real competitive side and I think we’ve got the capabilities of doing that and surprising a few sides in the latter half of the year.”
Elsewhere in Division 1, South Croydon proved a class above North Ringwood, recording a 76-point win, while Norwood surprised Balwyn by 44 points.
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