EFL 2022: Montrose upsets Mitcham to move within a game of Division 1 top five

Gary Ayres’ Demons have continued their late-season charge, closing the gap on the EFL Division 1 top five with a third-consecutive win.

Montrose has drawn within a game of the top five as it continued its late-season resurgence in the Eastern league’s Division 1.

The Demons upset fifth-placed Mitcham on Saturday, 16.11 (107) to 9.11 (65), marking a third consecutive win, thrusting them into the finals conversation at sixth on the ladder.

Montrose jumped the Tigers early to lead by 17 points at quarter time, before the hosts slashed the margin to six by half-time.

Montrose’s Daniel Chamberlin finished among the best with three goals. Picture: George Sal

Demons senior coach Gary Ayres owed his group’s second-half surge to a balance in attack and defence, wrestling back momentum at the stoppages to pile on nine goals to three after the main break.

“I know Mitcham had some personnel out, but I thought my boys today were challenged, we certainly jumped out of the blocks and that’s certainly important when you’re playing away,” Ayres said.

“In the second quarter I thought Mitcham got a lot of field position around the stoppages … but I thought in the second half we played some really expansive footy, we used the ball well in offence and defended well when we needed to.

“In the last quarter we grabbed that ascendancy back at the stoppages and midfield then we hit the scoreboard and had a pretty solid last quarter.

“This is what I’ve been trying to drill into the boys now for most of this year, is just about the process, what we want to look as a team and what we want our players to be doing and how we want them to be doing it.”

Montrose coach Gary Ayres. Picture: George Sal

Spearheads Mitch Davis and Billy Schilling fired with four goals apiece for Montrose, Corey Whitchell was instrumental on a wing while veteran ruckman Andrew Haining gave the Dees’ midfield first use and finished best afield.

Meanwhile, Jake Parente booted four majors for Mitcham to feature among the hosts’ best.

The Demons had played 10 matches in a row from after the Easter break to the last weekend in June before a bye weekend in early July.

Ayres believes the weekend off served as a welcomed refresher for his experienced crew – Haining included.

“I think Andrew’s been building over the past four weeks,” Ayres said.

“Since that break, the guys that are in that experienced ilk, I think they found it really good from a physical point of view but also a mental point of view.

“Haining, Sam Rickard, Mitch Davis, Billy Schilling to a degree, Brendan Gardoll, Jack Garthwaite, I think they really needed that break.”

Ayres said the preparation for Saturday’s clash was as settled as it had been all season, amid 43 players used.

“We’re just playing a better brand of footy, we’re playing it longer, and the other thing that’s no secret is when you’ve had minimal change at selection, it certainly helps and we only had one change going into the game,” he said.