A slow start to Sandringham saw them lose their second consecutive game at home this year as Nick Ciantar reports.
In a game that saw one end of the field having a strong breeze, Williamstown used this to full advantage in the first quarter to lead by 32 points at the break. Sandringham seemed to start off slowly after the bye and it showed on the scoreboard by only registering 2 behinds in the first quarter.
“We were on the back foot from the start.” said Sandringham Assistant Development Coach Brandon Allen.
It wasn’t until the 15 minute mark in the second quarter, that James Hallahan kicked a magnificent goal along the boundary line from a Williamstown error. Sandringham was on the back foot for the whole day, trailing at all of the breaks.
“We butchered it in the first half. We were a little bit better in the second half.”
Sandringham’s ball use was not that of their first 3 games and Williamstown took full advantage of the turnovers. The first half saw Williamstown lead by 27 points at the main break. Sandringham made simple kicking errors to teammates and at shots at goal. At half time they had kicked 3 goals 10 behinds and did not take full advantage of the breeze that they had.
“We really didn’t do anything different; it was just more our entries were either too shallow or poorly directed.”
Sandringham was in the contest the whole game and it was not until the second half that we saw the Zebra’s claw their way back. The intensity of the Zebra boys lifted and it showed through a great smother by Chris Irving in the third quarter that almost landed a goal. Their run and carry through the midfield was lifted, with a lead up mark to Beau Wilkes on the wing, who kicked to Cameron Shenton and then hand passed to Adam Cockie to give him a goal. They started the third quarter off strongly, kicking the first 2 goals before Williamstown kicked 3 steadying goals to finish the quarter up by 28 points.
“Myke Cook and Adam Cockie were good again. Adam almost hit double figures for tackles (9 tackles for the day).”
The last quarter saw Sandringham start off fast. Cockie and Cook led from the front which saw Sandringham kick the first 3 goals and only trail by 12 points. Cook intercepted a kick in from Williamstown which handed Cockie his second goal for the day. The Sandringham defence held strong from the Seagull’s attacks and the Zebra’s managed to find avenues to goal as well.
“Down back Beau Dowler and (Jackson) Ferguson were good.”
In a frantic quarter for both teams, Sandringham got as close as 1 point due to some individual and team brilliance. Beau Wilkes kicked a goal that was nearly over his head from a missed mark. It got the crowd excited and the Zebra’s were edging closer to the Seagull’s. Williamstown kicked a steadying goal, though Sandringham responded which made the finish worth watching.
The last 5 minutes of the game was tight. Sandringham had all the possession and the momentum seemed to have changed into Sandringham’s favour. With thunder and rain pelting down, the Seagulls kicked the last 3 goals to finish the contest winning 15.11:101 to 11.16:82. Sandringham will be ruing their start to the game.
“Can’t afford to give starts we did and try to make it up.”
Sandringham will want to improve after a dismal first half performance. The Zebra’s were outclassed in the first half and their foot skills were not up to the standard that it had been. In a further blow to Sandringham, emerging ruckmen Michael Sikora hobbled off the ground with a leg injury in the last quarter.
Sandringham will be looking at a better performance next week as they play Collingwood at Victoria Park on Saturday.
Last Modified on 26/04/2012 16:06