Darley made it five wins in a row with a 24-point win over Sunbury in the Ballarat Football League on Saturday.
In what was a possible finals preview, the teams went head to head at Darley Park where the home side made the early running.
PICTURE GALLERY: Darley v Sunbury
The Devils took a seven-point lead into the opening break and extended that to 13 by half time.
But Sunbury, fresh from a win over North Ballarat City, wasn’t about to go down without a fight and the Lions booted six goals in the third term to close the gap to seven.
The Devils regrouped, though, and managed to hold Sunbury goalless in the final quarter.
There were no such troubles at the other end of the field, and three goals sealed the win 15.10 (100) to 11.10 (76).
Darley football manager Travis Edwards was rapt with the pressure his side put on throughout the match.
“That [pressure] is what we targeted early. It was all about effort,” he said.
“One of our key performance indicators is our tackling, so we were trying to keep our tackling and our effort up.
“From there we were able to grind it out for the win.
“In the last quarter we nullified them at stoppages. We just covered their outlets and continued to get the tackle count up.”
Jake Edwards was outstanding for Darley, booting six goals, while Harley Inglis worked hard and kicked two.
The win had Darley leapfrog Sunbury to fourth on the table with six wins.
Edwards says staying there is the aim. “We just need to stay fit on the park. We need to try to avoid injuries, which is a difficult thing to do.
“We have a big run home but, hopefully, we can get into that third or fourth spot. Realistically, it’s probably going to be fourth. We’ll just take it from there.”
The Devils meet seventh-placed Bacchus Marsh this week.
But despite his side’s outstanding run of form, Edwards says the players must stay focused.
“We have to respect the opposition and we know they’ll come out firing,” he said. “We’re expecting a very hard game; it’s certainly one of those danger games.
“If you go into it with a bit of complacency or let them get under your guard they can certainly hurt you.”
