The last time they got to bust out the club song was June 9, also against the Dogs, making a for staggering 336-day wait.

And it couldn't have come at a better time for the club, which endured a horror week that saw playing-coach Danny Chatfield hospitalised with two skull fractures and bleeding on the brain following an on-field clash.

But the Dogs made them earn it, with the 14.12 (96) to 7.8 (50) scoreline not reflecting the tension at Dennington Recreation Reserve for large parts of the game.

A scrappy opening stanza saw East Warrnambool pepper Dennington's defensive 50 for no reward until Jyran Chatfield decided to take matters into his own hands.

The forward live-wire used a mix of guile, speed and power to boot three goals in two minutes, allowing the Bombers to take a 24-point lead into quarter-time.

A frustrating second term for Dennington would see the home side add just one goal before losing Michael Phillips after the Dogs skipper was crunched by an unseen teammate in a marking contest at the start of the third.

Two strong contested marks from Sam Lee then inspired a Dennington charge, which wrested momentum back and trimmed the margin to 21 points after a flurry of goals to Tully Allwood and Jordan Hand.

When Allwood put through his third minutes into the final term the Dogs trailed by just 15 points.

But that would be as close as it came, with East Warrnambool steadying through Kyle Ryan before Chatfield booted another two for good measure, taking his season tally to 17 goals.

Bombers assistant coach Brad Rees cut a figure of jubilation in the rooms and said he was rapt to get the win after narrow losses to Panmure and Russells Creek.

"We got a little ahead of ourselves in the third quarter," he said.

"But we asked the boys to respond and it was great to show what we're all about, that we're not a walkover."

A bruised and battered Matt Kenny, back for his first game since July following an ACL injury, said sustained pressure around the ground was the key to victory.

"We wanted to get up for Danny," he said.

"But it's not just him, it's everyone involved with the club who put in the hard yards each week."

Dennington's Luke Pearson praised the efforts of Sam Lee and Tom Fitzgerald but bemoaned the Dogs' inability to run out the game.

"Our second and third efforts were there, with tackles and pressure, but our skills and fitness weren't," he said.

"We have good ten-minute spells and bad ones. So we really need to push four quarters out because we can't seem to get that at the moment."

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