By JARROD POTTER
PILING into a portable work shed at the back of Pat Wright Sr Oval, Montrose belted out its gutsiest rendition of the theme song this year.
Montrose claimed a one-point victory over Noble Park in squalid conditions on Saturday as the rain fell forcefully on the EFL match of the day.
The Demons toiled in the steadily worsening conditions at the Bullring and once the heavens opened in the third term goals became a precious rarity.
A bicep injury to EFL representative footballer Stewart Kemperman left Noble Park down a rotation off the bench from the early stages of the match and Montrose capitalised on the disparity with its runners.
Trailing by a point at three-quarter-time, Montrose went ahead with what turned out to be the match winning goal off a hard lead from Matt Petracca, who slotted his set shot to boost the Demons’ lead to six.
Bulls captain Craig Anderson brought the margin back to a point with less than a minute left – taking a courageous mark while copping a whack to the upper torso that resulted in him kicking from dead in-front.
The final stoppage was kept in close quarters as Montrose held the pill through two bounces and waited for the siren to sound on their most important win to date in Division 1.
Jack Garthwaite impressed across half-back in the second half as he plugged the hole and stopped Noble Park’s dominant forwards getting first use, while Heath Benninga, Brendan Gardoll and Andrew Haining all excelled in the slop at Moodemere Street.
Montrose coach Brett Johnson said the turnaround from its narrow loss to Balwyn recently was the big plus and solidified the Demons’ finals chances.
“We were in the same position a couple of weeks ago and didn’t quite get across the line against Balwyn,” Johnson said.
“So to learn from that in the space of a fortnight and to really dig deep away from home, it widens the gap between us and Noble so it was a great win for the club.”
The win puts Montrose into fourth on equal points with Balwyn and Blackburn ahead on percentage.
Most importantly for the Demons, though, the win gives them a 10-point buffer ahead of sixth placed Noble Park to all but guarantee a finals place with five rounds left.
Montrose’s next challenge is the ladder leading Norwood at Mullum Reserve on 26 July.
EFL SCOREBOARD
Noble Park 2.5 4.5 6.7 7.9 (51)
Montrose 1.2 5.5 6.6 7.10 (52)
NOBLE PARK
Goals: M. Jones 2, B. Dore 2, C. Anderson, S. Monaghan, L. Kidd.
Best: J. Plymin, M. Jones, S. Monaghan, T. Kelly, T. Cody, W. Kelly.
MONTROSE
Goals: M. Petracca 2, R. Crouch 2, D. Bell, D. Rickard, B. Johnson.
Best: H. Benninga, B. Gardoll, A. Haining, S. Goodman, J. Lindgren, J. Goodman.
