On a perfect Saturday afternoon up in Bendigo, the Bendigo Gold hosted the Sandringham Zebras at Queen Elizabeth Oval. The Zebras were victorious against a fighting Gold team, winning 14.11 (95) to 12.12 (84) as Nick Ciantar reports.
Both teams were slow out of the blocks in the first quarter with only 4 goals kicked. The Gold kicked two early goals through Matt Little and Elliot Kavanagh, though the Zebras responded through Daniel Archer and Chris Michaliades. The scores were level at quarter time at 2.3 apiece.
Little continued his good start to the game kicking his second goal - the Gold's only goal of the second quarter - within the first five minutes. Brent Prismall made his long awaited comeback from a knee injury. He started the second quarter on the field after sitting on the bench in the first quarter. The Zebras started to get on top of the contest through some individual brilliance. Terry Milera's run and carry on the wing set up a goal to Tom Curren. The Zebras piled on five unanswered goals to lead by 22 points at half time.
The third quarter started just how the second quarter ended for Sandringham, with Dean Polo kicking a great goal from the boundary line. The Gold quickly replied through Sam Lonergan, however Marcus Marigliani played some of his best footy in the space of five minutes. Marigliani took two great contested marks in the goal square and converted with goals. Archer kicked his third goal of the match to extend the margin to 32 points. Bendigo did not give in and Little gave them some hope, kicking his fourth goal to bring the margin down to 29 points at the final break.
The Gold started the last quarter with a faint hope of victory and responded quickly by kicking the first four goals to make it a five point ball game. The Bendigo crowd erupted, however the talented Zebras replied with two quick goals to seal the win.
Marigliani finished with 13 disposals and 2 goals and his five minutes of brilliance in the third quarter helped the Zebras set up the victory. Michael Sikora was strong in the ruck, finishing with 28 hitouts and 1 goal. Adam Cockie had another impressive game in the midfield, finishing with 22 disposals and 8 tackles. Michaliades was strong in the forward line, kicking 1 goal and laying 6 tackles. St Kilda youngsters Tom Ledger and Seb Ross were stars in the midfield. They had 27 and 29 disposals respectively and took full advantage of Sikora's strength in the ruck. Raph Clarke was a stand out in the back line, finishing with 25 disposals. His run and carry set up the Zebras midfielders and forwards all day.
For the Gold, Tayte Pears was solid down back. He finished with 25 disposals and 13 marks and came across as third man up on many occasions. Brendan Lee played a solid game in the midfield with 27 disposals and was one of the Gold's best. Little finished with 6 goals and was the most dangerous forward on the ground.
The Zebra's second and third quarters helped set up a solid win on the road. They responded in the last quarter when challenged and are well and truly in the finals race. Sandringham has the bye next week, whilst Bendigo meets Geelong at Simonds Stadium at 10am.
Last Modified on 22/07/2012 21:20