Late surge not enough for the Saints
20/05/2024
The Southern Saints fell short by four-points against Port Melbourne on Sunday.
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Photography by Anthony Vella
Back at home for a cold and wet afternoon in Sandy, the Southern Saints took on 2023 Premiers in Port Melbourne. The game was heavily influenced by the weather on the day, the ball tough to grasp. Despite at late surge by the Saints in the final quarter, the Borough walked away with a four-point victory in a low scoring affair.
A downpour in the first quarter evened the skills, with the ball bobbling around in the contest and neither team able to obtain any real ascendency in field position. Both sides had equal scoring shots at half time, us with two minor scores and Port Melbourne with two majors, the difference which characterised the remainder of the contest.
We came out invigorated in the second half, keeping the ball in our end of the field. However unable to capitalise on the scoreboard, leaving all of our work to the final 10-minutes of the contest. Dakota Mason scored our sole major for the day with an impressive set shot from the boundary to bring us to five points off the lead. Late peppering of the goals was unfortunately met by stout defending, which kept us trailing.
Ahlee Penry was thrusted into the ruck this week and held her own, a strong positive out of the contest. Coming away with 25-hitouts and four-tackles on a day where contest was key.
Winnie Laing topped the ball winner’s count with 24-disposals and a team high eight tackles. She was key in transitioning the ball from half back to forward of centre wing. A strong performance which we have come to know from her.
Deanna Jolliffe was strong in her 50th VFLW game with impressive stats across the board. She finished with 17 disposals, 15 kicks, seven tackles and four marks in the wet.
The Borough proved too tough in the end. We can take plenty of positives out of the second half and we look towards next week against the Bulldogs away.
Southern Saints: 0.1 0.2 0.4 1.5 (11)
Port Melbourne: 1.0 2.0 2.1 2.3 (15)
Join us next week at Mission Whitten Oval as we take on the Western Bulldogs at 3:30pm on Saturday 25th of May.
Written by Tom McQuillan - Sandringham FC Media