Hard-fought battle as Seagulls take the win

15/07/2024

In a twilight encounter across the bay, Sandringham took on Williamstown in a tightly contested Saturday match at DSV Stadium. Despite a valiant effort and a determined late push, the Zebs ultimately fell short by 20-points.

Photography by Sean Pualic & Anthony Vella

Facing intense pressure from Williamstown in the opening minutes and challenging surface conditions, we began to settle into the game through strong contested marking and precision kicking. Repeat entries inside 50 would lead to our first major of the day, with Matthew Allison tenaciously smothering an attempted exit kick and skilfully snapping a goal. As the ball moved constantly from end to end with neither team being able to build sustained momentum, Tom Campbell would pluck a sensational pack mark on the stroke of quarter time to cut the deficit to just one point.

The second quarter saw us initially take command of the territory battle as we began to dominate hit-outs and centre clearances, winning the latter category by 39-29. Reaping the rewards of desperate forward-50 pressure from Liam O’Connell, Allison slotted his second as we took the lead. Darby Hipwell was well and truly back to his best in the middle, with his dynamic running and doggedness in the contest initiating numerous effective passages of play. However, Williamstown hit back with multiple goals late on as we went into the halftime break 20-points off the pace.

With the rain beginning to trickle down at the start of the second half, Williamstown took early ascendency as they kicked three majors for the term. Needing to revitalise our approach to the game, we began to slow the pace and look to switch the play to the open side. Seb Ross and Lance Collard were instrumental in this, as they combined for 20 kicks to see us strike back with two quick goals. Max Heath converted a routine set shot after a well-executed lead, but we still trailed by 16-points heading into the final term.

Determined to sustain our momentum we began the fourth with vigour, successfully retaining possession and locking the ball in our half. Our best piece of team play for the match came in the fifth minute, with Angus Hastie transitioning the play from defensive 50, through the corridor to Oliver Lowe, who assisted in getting the ball out the back and ultimately to Matthew Allison who ran into an open goal.

Although Williamstown capitalised on their scoring opportunities as they ran out 20-point victors, we displayed elite tackling pressure for the duration of the match, winning the statistics category 63-59. This, along with numerous other positives, gives us every reason to be excited for the upcoming game against the Southport Sharks this Saturday at home.

Sandringham Zebras                     2.2          4.2          7.6          9.9                          63

Williamstown                                  2.3          6.9          9.10        12.11                      83 

We take on Southport at Wilson Storage Trevor Barker Beach Oval this Saturday 20 July at 1:05pm.

For full stats from the game head to the VFL Website.

Written by Digby Verlander - Sandringham FC Media