By Lewis Mulvey
Sandringham kept its finals hopes alive with a 26 point victory over top-side Williamstown.
The match remained in the balance until the 22 minute mark of the final term, when Shane Tregear drilled a brilliant goal to put his side up by seven points. From then on, the Zebras went into Showtime mode, adding a series of great goals, the best being an audacious snap by Tom Paterakis from around 40 metres out.
Before blowing out in the final stages (ironically the result of a subtle but decisive easterly breeze), the match was a hard-fought battle in which both sides found it hard to score freely. While Sandringham seemed to be having trouble with their skills early on, Williamstown struggled with their forward entries, and the match remained goalless for some time before Xavier Gotch finally broke the deadlock for Williamstown. The Seagulls looked good from then on, with Wayde Skipper and Chris Egan providing strong marking targets around the ground and Ben Jolley getting plenty of the ball in midfield. But with his side down by two goals, Luke Ball got Sandringham back in touch with a fierce tackle deep in his own forward line that led straight to a Nick Sautner goal, before Tregear kicked another to put the Zebras in front. Patrick Rose then goaled for Williamstown right on the quarter time siren, and so the Seagulls went into the first break holding a three point lead.
The second quarter remained a cagey affair with the sides appearing to be evenly matched, highlighted by the ruck duel between Skipper and Rhys Stanley, who were both great for their respective sides. Williamstown’s Dean Galea was beginning to dominate up forward, but was let down at times by his finishing, although he produced a number of match highlights with his hard attack on the ball and strong marking.
Kicking with the wind in the third term and trailing by seven points, Williamstown knew they had to produce a good quarter of football. Both sides threw themselves at each other for long periods and the duel between Sandringham half-forward Tom Lynch and his opponent Andrejs Everitt was a fierce affair, with Lynch vital for the Zebras as a marking target across half forward. In the closing stages of the term, Galea kicked a brilliant checkside goal to put Williamstown seven points ahead, before Sandy responded with a slick piece of interplay that put a smile on the faces of the many present St Kilda fans – Ball to Lynch, Lynch to Steven, Steven to Sautner, goal. Not to be outdone, Galea responded sharply with another strong mark and conversion.
Despite being seven points down at three quarter time, Sandringham looked a real chance coming home with the breeze, and midfielders Jarryn Geary, David Armitage, Peter Summers and Luke Ball all found a lot of the ball. Andy Biddlecombe came back onto the ground after appearing to be injured and took a number of relieving defensive marks. And with the game in the balance, Geary became a decisive factor, winning the ball all over the ground and displaying great skill in his footpassing. His ferocious tackle and goal from outside 50 to bring the Zebras level raised the cheers and beers of the ‘Sautner Stand’ and provided the goal of the day.
Sandringham 4.1 7.7 8.10 15.15 (105)
| Williamstown 4.4 6.6 9.11 11.13 (79)
GOALS:Sandringham: Sautner 5 Tregear 4 Maguire Armitage Summers Geary Steven Paterakis
Williamstown: Galea 4 Rose 2 Cloke Skipper Daniels Gotch Johnson
BEST:Sandringham: Lynch Summers Ball Simpkin Stanley Tregear
Williamstown: Jolley Wood Galea Skipper Cloke Stretton
Last Modified on 27/07/2009 10:58