EFL: East Ringwood scores its second win of the season after a 31-point victory over Noble Park
EAST Ringwood kept its hopes alive of avoiding its first relegation in 45 years after a 31-point win over Noble Park improved the Roos’ record to 2-8.
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EAST Ringwood kept its hopes of avoiding its first relegation in 45 years alive after a 31-point win over Noble Park on Saturday.
The Roos turned a nine-point halftime deficit into a 20-point advantage at the final change after keeping the Bulls scoreless in the third term.
Another four goals to two in the final quarter helped seal a 14.10 (94) to 9.9 (63) victory, improving East Ringwood’s record to 2-8 to be just one game behind Montrose and Noble Park in the relegation battle.
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The reliable midfield trio of Leigh Osborne, Alex Urban and captain Chris Cerni led the way in the second half when drizzle made conditions difficult.
“I think the rain helped us and the fact we didn’t overpossess the ball, which I think we were doing in the first half, but that was due to two things — Noble Park’s pressure and I guess us trying to get a bit too cute,” East Ringwood coach Marcus Buzaglo said.
“The rain simplified things for us and we just got the footy going our way and our forwards were able to do some good work in front of the ball.”
Buzaglo acknowledged the Round 12 fixture against Montrose would have a huge bearing on who is demoted at the end of the year.
East Ringwood has been a mainstay of Division 1 since the Eastern Football League was formed in 1962, dropping to Division 2 just once in 1973 before winning the premiership the following year to earn promotion back to the top tier.
“I think the pleasing thing is it is only Round 10 so destiny is still in our hands, it’s still in Montrose’s hands,” Buzaglo said.
“We’re still in control, obviously that game is very important but we’d like to think we’ve got an opportunity to win this week (against Norwood) as well and there are some other games later in the year that I think we’re a really good chance to win as well.
“Obviously we don’t want to put all our eggs in the one basket but there is no denying it will be a very, very important game.”
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