Point Cook slipped further away from the top two in the Western Football League division 1 competition, with a loss to Yarraville Seddon on Saturday.
The two teams played off in a standalone match on Saturday, having had a bye the previous week as part of the split round.
Leading into the match, Bulldogs coach Clay Smith said the bye had come at a good time with a number of injuries.
Several of those players returned on Saturday.
With the competition one of the closest in years, every win is important at this point of the season.
The Bulldogs started the better of the two sides leading by three points at quarter time.
The Eagles managed to take an 11 point lead into the main break.
Eagles coach Brad Julier said he thought they played a pretty good four quarter performance.
“We got off to a good start but our inaccuracy kept the door open at half time. We got four goals in the third quarter to set it up for the last quarter.
“They were able to kick a couple later in the match to bring it back to 19 points.”
Billy Kolyniuk was the only multiple goalkicker for the Bulldogs with two goals.
Tyler Kolyniuk, Austin Hodge and Haiden Wallace were the best for the Bulldogs.
Julier said Zac Pritchard, Michael Selbsy and Akol Deng were some of their standouts in the win.
The win moves the Eagles into second place, only behind an undefeated Werribee Districts.
Just 12 points separates the Eagles and Point Cook Centrals, who sit bottom.
Point Cook sits in fourth spot, two games back of the Eagles and a game clear of Point Cook Centrals.
“The win puts us two games clear of Point Cook,” Julier said. “Had they won they would have been equal with us.
“We’re sitting second and have Spotswood this week and then it’s the halfway mark of the season.
“We’ll see where we sit after this one.”
The Bulldogs this week face Hoppers Crossing, which is coming off two weeks off, having had the bye before the split round.
In other matches this weekend coming, Altona is on the road against Point Cook Centrals, Spotswood and Yarraville Seddon are playing off for the ‘Battle of the Bridge’ and Werribee Districts plays Caroline Springs.
Parkside has the bye.
In division 2, the Suns face Sunshine Heights, Wyndhamvale plays Sunshine and Tarneit faces West Footscray.
