The 14.12 (69) to 18.14 (122) loss sees the Rats a game outside the top five and they must now rely on the Roos to lose one of their final two matches, while also requiring wins over Nhill and Stawell in the next fortnight to remain in the hunt for September action.

Rats' joint-coach David Hosking anticipated a finals-like intensity heading into Saturday's contest and that's exactly what he got, with Ararat opening up an early lead.

An intercept mark from Jake Williamson, who combined with Jacob Bates to score the Rats first major was quickly followed by another goal to the home side, this time through skipper Alan Batchelor.

Reigning Toohey Medallist Justin Chilver then got Dimboola on the board before back-to-back goals from Daniel Mendes helped the Rats hold a 14-point buffer at the first change.

"I thought we played a good first quarter, they did a lot right," Hosking said.

"Our press worked and did what it was designed to do, we had 10 scoring shots for the quarter which was good and the pressure was on from the beginning. All in all you couldn't complain with our start, which has been a bit of an issue for us."

Liam Cavanagh extended Ararat's lead in the opening minute of the second term, however cracks started to appear as the quarter progressed, with the Rats' defenders struggling to clear the ball out of their zone which led to Dimboola pegging back the margin.

Jack Ganley was a standout for Ararat on the wing, winning many clearances and halfway through the term he was able to link-up and help Mendes to his third major of the afternoon.

Hosking said having Mendes and Aaron Searle as deep forwards once again proved dangerous, with the midfielders causing headaches for the Roos' backmen.

"I think Dimboola was uncomfortable with it because those two are not a traditional match up," he said.

"They can compete with the big tall defender in the air and then if they get the ball to ground they are too nimble and quick for them. They are also both really fierce competitors and contested ball winners."

Dimboola had slashed the deficit to just two points by halftime, but Hosking and Andrew Louder were still confident their side could continue to go with the opposition in the second half.

"Andrew and I felt that we were seeing signs that we had them, not necessarily in trouble, but we were able to score and able to create opportunities which we definitely hadn't done the last time we played them," he said.

"We thought they were showing signs of not responding well to the pressure, so there were certainly some opportunity for us to push ahead in the second half."

The third quarter was always going to be an important one, with both teams out to stamp their authority on the game and Ararat started the better of the two as Harry Ganley roved a pack to slot a goal on the run from 40 metres out.

The Roos were quick to respond and went on a rampage kicking seven of the next nine majors for the term to take a 20-point advantage into the final change.

“There was a couple of times in the third quarter, they won the clearance and the guy would just run out of the centre and hit Excell up directly in front, 30 metres out — it is very hard to defend that,” Hosking said.

“It was a combination of lack of defensive pressure in the midfield, but also I don’t think we were playing our best footy in the back half either.

“I remember looking at the stats at three quarter time and that was the quarter they had 15 entries for 10 scoring shots. It is just too higher percentage. You are not going to win many games of footy doing that.”

While the third quarter was a disappointing one on Ararat’s behalf, Hosking said the team hung in and didn’t get blown away.

Searle threatened to be the final quarter hero, as the best and fairest kicked three of the first four goals of the term to have the Rats back to within eight points.

“I thought we were a chance to probably pinch it at that point, but again we just let goals through that we didn’t need to,” Hosking said.

“When we needed to really crack in and stop them scoring, we’d leak one and all that hard work came undone. It hurt our confidence, but in the end it came down to them being the better team.”

With Ararat’s fate now in the hands of the football Gods, Hosking said the Rats’ focus has shifted from playing finals to just finishing off the last two home and away matches with some momentum.

“We have got to worry about getting back to playing the sort of footy that we want to play and continue to learn and develop,” he said.