Zebs hold their nerve against a surging Casey

27/05/2024

The Zebs powered on from the previous week with a strong character-building 13-point performance over Casey Demons away.

Photography by Olivia Blamires

We came out of the blocks with a spring in our step with the first two majors of the day courtesy of Dan Butler and Matt Allison. After a period of inside contest correction by Casey, they steadied the scoring bleed. The Demons fought back with two goals of their own, giving themselves the lead midway through the quarter. A late surge by the Zebs and Saints' key-forward Tim Membrey, kicking two goals back-to-back, gave us a two-point lead heading into the first change.

It was a similar story in the second, with both sides throwing punches and trading goals. Olli Hotton posted his first of the afternoon and Tim Membrey put together a solid first half to notch up his third. We went into halftime two-points off the pace.

The third quarter is where we put the foot down. Olli Hotton found himself on the end of numerous forward bursts, kicking four goals in the quarter, bringing his tally to five. Ollie Lowe also capitalised on the Zebs’ forward ascendency with two goals of his own. We went into the final break with a 28-point lead.

The final quarter was far from smooth sailing. The Demons brought new intensity to their game and narrowed the margin to one point with five-minutes left to play. We owned our moments to close it out in a tight one. Tim Membrey used his wealth of knowledge to read an aerial contest as it dribbled over the back for him to gather then kick the sealer. Max Heath held his nerve taking a set shot late in the game, he followed his routine and slotted the goal. Nailing on the four points for the Zebs.

Tim Membrey and Olli Hotton were the the standouts in front of goal kicking 11 between them.

The stand-out ball winners were Brad Crouch with 33 disposals and Hunter Clark with 31 disposals.

The combination of the big men in Tom Campbell and Max Heath is working wonders as they combined for 62 hit-outs.

Sandringham Zebras:   5.0         7.2      14.4    17.9                (111)       

Casey Demons:                  4.4      6.10    8.12    14.14              (98)

For the full VFL Stats package and match replay visit the VFL website.

Join us next week at Kinetic Stadium, Frankston on Saturday the 1st of June as we take on the Frankston Dolphins under lights at 7:05pm.

Written by Tom McQuillan - Sandringham FC Media