SANDRINGHAM jumped back into top eight contention after a surprising hard-fought win against the third placed Williamstown.
The Zebras won by 15 points, playing an attacking brand of football right from the first bounce to upset the top eight Seagulls. Nick Ciantar reports.
The Zebras had lost their last five games and were quickly seeing their finals chances disappear for the year. But it was evident right from the start that the Zebras were focused on rescuing their season.
Tom Ledger began furiously for the Zebras in the midfield and kicked their first two goals of the game.
Williamstown tried to stretch the Sandringham defence with a tall forward line consisting of Tom Campbell, Lukas Markovic and Ayce Cordy. The tactic worked early providing some first quarter headaches for the Zebras as Campbell kicked two goals.
Lewis Pierce and Hamish Shepheard were in the ruck and were matched up against Cameron Wood and Campbell. This was an interesting battle throughout the day but the young Zebras got the better of two experienced ruckmen.
Clearances and contested possessions were key areas which the Sandringham coaching staff was adamant needed to be won. They did this in the first half and held a handy 11 point lead at the main break.
The Zebras were winning critical match-ups all over the ground and held a firm grip on the contest. Cameron Shenton was playing as a negating forward on Tom Young, Williamstown tagger Christian Howard beat Adam Cockie and Jason Blake was on young Seagulls forward Cordy.
Patrick Veszpremi (14 disposals, 3 goals) and Daniel Cross (35 disposals, 1 goal) were the only Seagulls players to be influential in the first half.
Sandringham started to get on top of the game in the third quarter and kicked four goals in a row. Seb Ross (30 disposals) and Ledger (27 disposals, 2 goals) were dominating in the midfield, Myke Cook (22 disposals) and Jimmy Webster (21 disposals, 6 marks, 1 goal) were patrolling half-back and Sam Dunell played as a strong marking utility (20 disposals, 8 marks, 1 goal).
The Zebras could do no wrong and went into the final quarter 20 points up. Williamstown rallied hard in the last quarter, kicking two dribbled goals in a row by Nick Lower (28 disposals) and Willie Wheeler (13 disposals).
When Williamstown rallied it looked like Sandringham was going to fold. But to the Zebras’ credit they withstood the Seagull’s immense pressure from Ben Jolley (31 disposals) and co.
They brought the margin down to eight points, but Tom Curren took a strong contested mark in the goal square, scored a major for the Zebras and killed off the contest.
Sandringham Assistant Coach Jaymie Graham spoke after the game and was very pleased with Pierce’s rapid improvement against a quality midfield group.
“They (Williamstown) are a quality midfield outfit and you are never going to stop them all and they do accumulate possessions. They have two quality ruckmen and I thought Lewis Pearce did a fantastic job and it definitely was his best game for the year,” Graham said.
“Ledger started the game really well … Seb Ross worked hard the whole game and he is starting to work like an AFL footballer,” says Graham.
“Cook provides us with run out of half back and we needed him in the middle at the end.”
Graham said that the club was happy with the sides “all round team effort.” Every Sandringham player played their part after a few poor games and Graham was ecstatic with the result.
“We were happy with the way all the boys did play today and the thing with it, it was a four quarter effort,” says Graham.
Ross was the Zebras’ best with a consistent game, but it was TAC Cup player Tom Langdon (26 disposals, 9 marks) that caught the eye of Graham.
“He has been good for us Tommy down back. Again as a young player he just sustained a four quarter effort and I thought today was probably his best game for us. Composure with the ball in hand was good and he really did step up in pressure especially in the last quarter.”
Sandringham played consistent for four quarter’s and Graham wants the team to bring the “same focuses and sustain another four quarter effort” next week.
The Zebras host Bendigo at home next Sunday, while Williamstown meets Port Melbourne away next Saturday.
Photo: Dave Savell