East Armidale’s form has been hot and cold all year but they found their feet on Saturday to down cross-town rivals Demon Knights.
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The round prior saw the men in green fall to Oxley Vale Attunga 2-nil in a below par performance and Easts coach Mark Gwynne wanted his team to find the form which saw them beat North Companions 5-1 in round seven.
Heading into the recent clash, Gwynne said DK were his team’s “bogey side” and they had “struggled” to beat them in recent encounters.
They managed to do that and topple their opponents to take a 3-1 triumph, and their fourth of the Northern Inland Premier League season.
Easts rocketed out to an early 2-nil lead before dropping their intensity in the later stages of the first-half.
“Corby Kliendienst scored one really good goal in the first 10 minutes and then Brent Pedlow got one five or 10 minutes later, we had two goals up within the first 20,” Gwynne said.
“We went into our shells a bit.”
Gwynne said his team’s defence was the difference.
“We defended, I think they were in our half twice in the first-half,” he said.
“Our defence was really good. Adam Lennon, if I was going to give three points he would have got the three points.”
Despite highlighting Lennon’s defensive performance, Gwynne believes it was a collective team effort.
“They all played really well, it was what we have been aiming for all season,” he said.
“If we can keep playing like that we will be right.
“Brendan Hatte rolled his ankle in the first 10 minutes, he was off but Connor Dennehy came on and he did a very good job.
“We are starting to get into a bit of a groove now so hopefully we can keep it going.”
Injuries have hampered their start to the season but Easts are starting to get a consistent side together.
The win against DK pushed them into third spot on the table.
“A few of the games we did lose, they weren't big losses but we had patch up sides but now we are starting to get the side we want to keep,” Gwynne said.
“It is just trying to keep that same side on the paddock without too many injuries or too many players going away or other commitments.”
Gwynne welcomed the long weekend break with the rest providing opportunity for some of his players to overcome minor injuries.
“Need it to get over a few little niggly injuries and that is about it,” he said.
“We are playing some good footy, for the first 20 minutes it was as I have seen here for a long time.”