EFL 2022: East Ringwood banks fifth consecutive win in Division 1

One of the form sides of the EFL’s Division 1 is set to get even stronger following a fifth consecutive win on Saturday.

It’s five wins on the bounce for the ‘Roos – and they’re soon set to welcome back a host of names.

East Ringwood continued its dominant form in the Eastern league’s Division 1 on Saturday as it shook off a gallant Montrose, 13.11 (89) to 9.10 (64).

But the comp’s second-placed side didn’t have it all its own way.

The ‘Roos overturned a 16-point quarter-time deficit to lead by 11 at the main break before the Demons cut the margin to just six at the final change.

Jason Coghlan and Hannin Mundy finished among the ‘Roos best. Picture: George Sal

East Ringwood senior coach Ben Osborne believes the visitors took the field the more “match-ready” side having played ladder-leader Mooroolbark the week prior, with his charges coming off the bye.

“Coming off the bye for us, I think that was the telltale sign at the start of the game,” he said.

“They (Montrose) had played Mooroolbark last week and they were in that match-ready form.

“I think there was nothing wrong with a lot of our stuff … our fundamentals were just down a bit but we settled after quarter time.

“In the end we did enough to win and get us going in the back half of the year after the week off.”

Key forward Trent Farmer fired with four goals taking his season total to 29 from nine matches.

Osborne said his boom recruit had provided an unpredictability in attack this season.

“He’s coming up against good defenders and what we’re seeing from Trent is, he’s just a competitive beast,” Osborne said.

“Every week he’ll get six, seven, eight shots on goal … we know he doesn’t get out-marked.

“We’ve got some options down there … he knows he’s not the be-all and end-all and that’s something that helps him as well.”

The ‘Roos make it two from two this season against the Dees. James Belo pictured in action earlier this season. Picture: George Sal

Young midfielder Connor Weightman finished East Ringwood’s best alongside tall prospect Hannin Mundy, as Mitch Farmer and Steve Dinnell bagged two majors apiece.

Mitch Davis kicked three for the visitors while young gun Bailey White finished the Dees’ best.

The ‘Roos haven’t lost since running undefeated Mooroolbark to 12 points in Round 5, and Osborne was hopeful his side’s early-season injury woes were behind it.

They’ll look to regain experienced defender Troy Wright and former Eastern Ranges vice-captain Mitch Keedle in the next two to three weeks. Key post Liam Whelan is expected to return in the back half of the year, and the ‘Roos may also see current Eastern Ranges top-ager Sahaf Ali.

“We’re clicking in a lot of areas especially defensively and now we’re just trying to get our ball movement (right) and being hard to play against that way,” Osborne said.

“We’re slowly building, we want to be playing our best footy at the right time of year (and) we feel that’s reachable and we’re not far away from that.

“We’ve got eight games to go, we can really set ourselves up in this next two weeks which are pretty important to us.”

East Ringwood takes on Mitcham this weekend before a clash with Croydon.