By Josh Ward.
The Montrose women’s side has started to improve in recent weeks and looks set to develop even further on the run home.
Last Saturday saw the Demons make it two wins on the trot, keeping the second-placed Waverley Blues to just one goal on their way to a 25-point victory at home.
Senior women’s coach Shilette Baker said the past two wins against the Blues and Blackburn had seen them play their best footy all year.
“We gave ourselves some goals after the halfway mark this year and the girls have tried to break it down and try to slow it down a little bit,” Baker said.
“One of our good things that we’re doing this year is our defensive record has been pretty good considering where we’re sitting.
“We’ve tried to be able to get more scoreboard pressure and that seems to be coming over the last two weeks.”
In the past couple of weeks the side has been bolstered by players coming back into the fold that missed the start of the season.
“We had some injuries (early on) so now at the backend we seem to have most of our players back, which does make a difference if you can rotate a bit more and not be playing the same people all the time.
“It really has made a big difference for us and just gives us a bit more scope with versatility on the ground, moving players around the ground and giving them a rest.”
Baker also has plenty of hope the side can continue to improve with players coming back as well as the younger players continuing to shine.
“Our girls are really confident that they’re taking every game pretty seriously and they think that if we’re playing our best that we can give everyone a bit of a shake.
“Our junior program’s going well, we’ve got three of our consistent Under 18s that came from last year into our senior team, they’re performing really well.”
The likes of Emma Watson and Tiana Witnish, both of whom having played 18s as well as some senior games last year, have been two of the more consistent players for the Demons in 2023.
Baker also praised the efforts of fellow young gun Charlotte Green in defence who continues to fly under the radar this year.
“(Green)’s one of the backbone’s of our backline with Tiana Witnish. Emma’s doing a great job in the midfield as well, complementing Rachel Hardy and the Eslick sisters.
“We’re really pleased with what they’ve brought to the table.”
Hardy alongside Kayla and Shae Eslick have also put together strong campaigns once again and have provided plenty of leadership in midfield.
“They give that bit more maturity for the girls. We’re really trying to teach them a bit more structure, and with the strength and the resilience that we’ve got with the players we’ve had since the start it’s been really good.
“I think they’ve learnt a lot at senior level. And all of the girls that have only played two or three years in the making of football they’ve really improved out of sight.”
Whilst the Demons are still a chance of making finals Baker has hope that they can cause sides headaches in the final month of the regular season.
“I put to the club in our newsletter that we did want to shake up this last half and make it difficult for everyone.
“Our defensive record speaks for itself so if we can change it at the other end I think we can make a bit of a fist of it and see how we go.”
They’ll play under lights for the second time this season when they travel to face the unbeaten East Ringwood.
“It was really good to play the Pride Round at Blackburn the other week under lights so our girls are excited about having another one.”
