In the week that Brenton Surrey committed to lead the club for the rest of the season, the Bushrangers dug deep to deliver an 11.16 (82) to 7.7 (49) victory for the coach.

But Surrey insisted it wasn't about him as Beechworth's seniors belted out their club song for the first time since August 2019.

"I'm not happy for myself too much," Surrey said. "You don't want to be losing and I feel for the guys and the club as much as anything.

"You can say the pressure's off, I don't know if it's pressure, maybe a bit of relief that we're on the board.

"When things are down, it's easy to put a line through it or not turn up but training's been really good in terms of numbers and commitment. This win is a good reward for the work the guys have been putting in."

Surrey kicked two goals and there were three each for Connor Stone and Dylan Pritchard.

New recruit Peter Hancock was the Saints' best and Scott Montgomery booted three majors.

"There was some very good and there was some very bad," Surrey admitted.

"We didn't have composure when they had momentum, to slow the game down and get it back to a 50-50 contest.

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"I said to the boys after the game, winning's a culture and when you get into tight positions, that winning or losing culture comes through. Unfortunately, we're down at the moment but we'll try to build that winning culture."

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