Heading into the game Sandringham and Port Melbourne both desperately needed a win, and at the final siren it stayed that way with a dramatic draw at Frankston Oval on Sunday. Ryan Lepore reports.
Aided by a healthy breeze in the first term in otherwise perfect conditions for football, it was Sandringham who got the jump on the Borough with the first five goals of the game. With captain Marcus Marigliani on fire and some undisciplined play from Port Melbourne that resulted in some silly free kicks, the Zebras were in total control.
But as the quarter ticked into red time it was all Port Melbourne. Their dominance in the middle was finally rewarded with two quick goals to Sam O’Sullivan and Adrian Bonaddio added another just before the quarter time siren after a down field free kick to wrestle back some momentum and trail by only 12 points at the first break.
Port Melbourne continued their momentum into the second quarter piling on another four goals in succession to make it seven in a row and took control of the match. Sandringham small forward Chris Michaliades, who worked tirelessly all day with his relentless pressure at the ball carrier, steadied the ship for the Zebras with his first, before Chris Cain who was rarely cited in the first term kicked his third of the quarter to give the Borough the momentum again. Another late goal for Michaliades and the Port Melbourne lead was only five points going into the main break.
The second half was an arm wrestle from the start with momentum seesawing for the rest of the day. Chris Cain continued on his merry way with two more goals in the quarter and Dean Galea started impose himself after being extremely well held by young Sandringham defender Jordan Staley. Sandy answered back with two big contested marks of their own deep inside 50 with Lewis Pierce and Spencer White kicking their first goals of the game respectively to give the Zebras a two point lead at the final break.
Sandringham coach Simon McPhee urged his boys to run and carry the footy and get the ball in deep to expose the lack of size in Port Melbourne’s backline. This was certainly working as Sandringham were seemingly running away with the game when the Zebras banged on three in a row after a brilliant piece of work by Adam Cockie set up Chris Michaliades with his third. Chris Cain wasn’t done with slotting his sixth of the game to reduce the margin to seven points before Spencer White kicked a fantastic running goal, his third of the afternoon at the 23 minute mark to put the Zebras back up by 12 points.
Port Melbourne found something extra and leveled the match with three minutes remaining through Ryan Gale at 16.12.108 apiece. Both teams thrust forward but couldn’t hit the scoreboard and the match ended in the first draw for season 2013.
The draw puts Port Melbourne back inside the top 8 with one win one draw and two losses from four matches played while Sandringham are still looking for their first win of season and sit in 13th position on the ladder with one draw and two losses from three matches.
Last Modified on 22/04/2013 22:45