HORROR START, GREAT FINISH by KC from Casey

The Casey Scorpions ventured out to the Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Saturday afternoon and survived a horror opening quarter when they trailed badly to turn things around completely when their turn came with the wind in the second term and then controlled the game in the final half to record a 31 point victory in a great finish.

The game was only minutes old when Angus Brayshaw suffered yet another knock to the head causing his removal from the game as a precaution. At the same time the home team was scoring goal after goal to lead by 5.1.31 to 0.0.0 with the first term barely halfway through. Forward Liam Hulett stemmed the flow temporarily with his team's first goal but the Zebras' onslaught continued to the bell when they led by 35 points.

As often happens in such cases, the home side managed to boot the first when their turn came against the wind and the Casey Scorpions were staring at a deficit of 41 points. However, that was the point in time when the game was turned on its head.

With big Jake Spencer taking control in the ruck and Alex Neal-Bullen, Ben Newton and Jack Trengove dominating on the ball scored 5 goals in the space of 10 minutes to get themselves back in the game. A pleasing feature for the alignment was that the players scoring at the end of the onslaught during this period were Casey-listed players James Munro, Tim Smith, Ed Morris and Paul Pattison. One has to question how the VFL representative squad selectors failed to pick a Casey player given the form of Munro and Smith (2 goals each in the second term) or skipper Jack Hutchins for that matter.

Late in the second quarter Spencer booted a long goal to put the Scorps in front and the star of the game Neal-Bullen who finished with 39 touches goaled to make the difference 11 points in favour of the visitors after a nine goal quarter. 

If the second quarter heoics were not enough, then it was in the third that the game was won as Casey outscored Sandy against the wind to increase its lead to three goals. Late in the game, Chris Dawes and Sam Weideman got into the goals and at one stage the lead was up to 42 points before a couple of late goals to the Zebras made the result more respectable for them.

The Scorpions are on top of the ladder and face a big challenge from the Box Hill Hawks smarting from their first loss for the season. The game will be played at Casey Fields on Saturday night.

Casey Scorpions 1.4.10 10.8.69 15.12.102 19.19.133

Sandringham 7.3.45 9.3.57 13.6.84 16.6.102

Goals

Casey Scorpions Munro T Smith 3 Dawes Hulett Morris Weideman 2 Briggs Neal-Bullen Pattison Spencer Trengove 

Sandringham Dennis-Lane Shenton 3 Kreymborg McCartin 2 Cook Longer McKenzie Minchington Saunders White

Best 

Casey Scorpions Neal-Bullen Munro Newton T Smith Hutchins White

Sandringham Lee McKenzie Wright White Curren Shenton

The Development League team led at half time but failed to respond to the challenge in the final term and went down by 48 points.

Casey Scorpions 1.0.6 3.4.22 5.7.37 7.12.54

Sandringham 2.5.17 2.6.18 7.8.50 15.12.102

Goals

Casey Scorpions Vander Haar 3 Baker Cotte Gordon Hannon

Sandringham Ong 3 Cameron Payne Wilkins 2 Coates Fisscher Fox Lloyd

Best 

Casey Scorpions Muir D Collis Vander Haar Gains McInerney Gordon 

Sandringham Ong Hayes Wilkins Kelso Thompson Wallace 

Statistics 

Angus Brayshaw 1 disposal 1 handball 1 tackle 6 dream team points (injured)

Chris Dawes 2 goals 3 behinds disposals 12 kicks 1 handballs 8 marks 1 tackle 79 dream team points

Lynden Dunn 1 behind 28  disposals 18 kicks 10 handballs 6 marks 4 tackles 103 dream team points

Sam Frost 5 disposals 1 kicks 4 handballs 2 tackles 20 dream team points

Liam Hulett 2 goals 2 behinds 9 disposals 8 kicks 1 handballs 3 marks 50 dream team points

Max King 1 behind 6 disposals 1 kick 5 handballs 1 mark 2 tackles 10 hit outs 35 dream team points

Oscar McDonald 18 disposals 10 kicks 8 handballs 4 marks 59 dream team points

Alex Neal-Bullen 1 goals 39 disposals 18 kicks 21 handballs 3 marks 1 tackle 112 dream team points

Ben Newton 2 behinds 32 disposals 14 kicks 18 handballs 6 marks 18 tackles 1 hit out 172 dream team points

Joel Smith 10 disposals 1 kick 9 handballs 1 mark 2 tackles 29 dream team points

Jake Spencer 1 goals 14 disposals 7 kicks 7 handballs 1 mark 5 tackles 40 hit outs 105 dream team points

Dean Terlich 25 disposals 14 kicks 11 handballs 3 marks 8 tackles 100 dream team points

Jack Trengove 1 goal 29 disposals 9 kicks 20 handballs 3 marks 6 tackles 1 hit out 92 dream team points

Sam Weideman 2 goals 1 behind 10 disposals 3 kicks 7 handballs 3 marks 1 tackle 46 dream team points

Mitch White 17 disposals 8 kicks 9 handballs 2 marks 7 tackles 70 dream team points