by Barry from Beach Road

Sandringham survived a major scare by producing a stunning eleven-goal final quarter against the Bendigo Bombers to win by 33 points and retain its firm grip on top position of the VFL ladder on Saturday.

The make up of the team again underwent a number of changes before the game with a reshuffle of players in the Melbourne side. Sandy also suffered a blow when skipper Chad Liddell was ruled out by injury. The changes however, did not seem to unduly affect them early and, after conceding the opening goal, they steadied and were giving the impression that they were ready to blow the game away. The persistent Bombers had other ideas. They bottled the game up, preventing the Zebras from using their advantage in height and skill around the ground and at quarter time they led by a goal.

The pattern was repeated in the second quarter of what was becoming a dour struggle between the teams. The Zebras had the ascendency in the ruck with Mark Jamar and Paul Johnson while Summers and Valenti were providing the midfield strength and Ezra Poyas, Byron Pickett and David Gallagher were bobbing up around the ground driving the ball into attack. The Bomber defence was solid and ran extra men behind the ball to crowd up the Sandy forward line. When Bendigo went forward however, it was generally wasteful and in a game of see sawing fortunes this proved costly. Sandringham led by 11 points at the main break but it could so easily have been a different story.

The third quarter is generally viewed by the pundits as the premiership quarter and if this were truly the case then one would have expected the aspirants for a fourth premiership on end to run over a team placed ninth on the ladder. That was certainly not the case in the third term of this match. It was Bendigo that came out full of running while Sandringham had a touch of arrogance and laziness about it and the Bombers took full advantage by taking control of the midfield through veterans Jason Johnson and former Demon Chris Heffernan. Despite the dominance of the Sandy ruckmen, it was Bendigo that was now winning the clearances and their on ballers provided plenty of feed for their forwards who blazed away at goal and eventually hit target enough times to put a major scare through the Zebra camp. When the team went into the huddle at three quarter time to face their coach they were staring at an embarrassing defeat in front of a decent size home crowd and a much larger ABC television audience.

Mark Williams is one of the contenders for Melbourne's vacant coaching job and he did his prospects no harm with a considered and calm approach to the situation his team faced at the final break. He called upon them to respond to their disappointing third quarter by doing something about it - he challenged them to have a go. He told them that that they needed to keep their sights lowered and not to bomb the ball indiscriminately particularly when going forward. They answered in the best way possible.

Wiliams had been carefully rotating his midfielders - even during Bendigo's thrid quarter onslaught when they kicked seven goals to Sandringham's three. This set the scene for the refreshed Zebras, headed by Summers and Poyas who were in imposing form, to retake control of the middle of the ground and they orchestrated an absolute goal feast. It was goal a minute stuff as Sautner, Gallagher, Pickett and Valenti all took advantage up forward. The Zebras also benefitted from their enormous height advantage with Jamar taking some strong marks up forward. They brushed aside the Bombers with consummate ease to finish full of running and complete an unlikely 33 point demolition of a stunned opposition.

The unsung heroes of the game were the team's youngsters who underpinned their winning effort. Jace Bode continued his rapid improvement and Tom Paterakis, Tomi Johnston, Sam Monaghan, Guy Martyn and Rennie Gilchrist all contributed. They are going through a wonderful learning process during this early stage in their senior careers.

In the run up to the finals the Zebras have the advantage of playing another three of their four remaining games at home. Their northern rivals, the Bullants, are the next cab off the rank.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Let's face it. If an MFC listed player finds himself in the Sandringham team at this stage of the year, he's not there by accident unless the circumstances are exceptional. He's either coming back from injury, out of form, out of favour, in development mode or more than one of the above. I was disappointed with the overall contributions of the Demon listed players to Sandringham's classical victory: with one or two exceptions, they were totally overshadowed by the likes of Summers, Poyas, Gallagher and even the youngsters in their contributions to what was a sensational come from behind victory.

Jace Bode - continues to improve in all facets of the game although he needs to improve on his right side. Laid a great tackle in the second quarter only to waste it with poor disposal. All in all however, it was another consistently good performance and he was rewarded by being named in the Sandy best again.

Clint Bizzell - generally covered his opponent and did a reasonable game in defence. Also kicked a goal when going forward but might still struggle to regain his place in the Melbourne team.

Nathan Carroll - settled down after showing a bit of early frustration and giving away a few frees. Once that problem corrected itself, Carroll settled down and he finished up having a solid game and even kicked a goal in that chaotic final term.

Lynden Dunn - kicked a nice goal and showed a bit of spark in the third quarter but otherwise had little impact, which is disappointing for a player with his size, skills and athletic talent. The next twelve months will be an important time in his development.

Colin Garland – mostly floated around the back line and picked up possessions here and there without doing very much to impose himself on the game.

Mark Jamar - with Paul Johnson, he dominated the ruck and also took plenty of marks around the ground and in the forward line and finished with two goals. Should be given a run in the AFL to see whether he has a future at the club or whether he should be put up for trade.

Chris Johnson - it was good to see him getting an opportunity in the middle and he putting in a strong performance. His disposal was generally very good and I look forward to seeing how he develops under his next senior coach.

Paul Johnson - despite being second fiddle to Jamar, he showed plenty in the ruck contests and around the ground and the only mystery he didn't solve was why he wasn’t on the Demons’ flight to Adelaide this weekend.

Byron Pickett - played mainly at half forward and despite not cutting the finest figure on the ground, the Pickett of old was almost back on Saturday. Had twenty touches, took six marks and kicked two goals but it was the tackling, the smothering and the impact of his hits that made a difference when it counted in the final quarter. My only criticism is that he had one or two brain fades and gave away one unnecessary fifty metre penalty (but I suppose that comes with the territory when physical strength is your forte) and the fact that he didn’t lot the final kick for goal after the siren from outside fifty because it would have made it a special finish for a great day.

Sandringham 3.5.23 6.9.45 9.12.66 20.14.134

Bendigo Bombers 2.5.17 4.10.34 11.16.82 14.17.101

Goals

Sandringham Sautner 5 Gallagher 3 Jamar Pickett Summers Valenti 2 Bizzell Carroll Dunn P Johnson

Bendigo Bombers Carter Lonergan Reimers 3 Bolton Weeks 2 Atkinson

Best

Sandringham Summers Bode Gallagher Pickett Carroll Poyas

Bendigo Bombers Johns Heffernan Lonergan Carter Reimers Johnson

Reported Player

Sandringham David Gallagher (Sandringham) for charging D Dick (Bendigo) in the second quarter.

The Zebra Reserves continue to show improvement and had an enormous win in the curtain raiser to level the ledger at seven wins and seven losses to remain in contention for a place in the finals.

After an even first quarter the young Zebs kicked seven goals in the second and eight in the third to storm home from the visitors and record a 63 point victory in the end.

With Shane Neaves winning in the ruck, Stefan Martin was outstanding with five goals and he was backed up by four each from Ewan McKenzie and Isaac Weetra. Marc Johnston continued to press his claim for seniors inclusion and Daniel Collyer put in a solid display.

Sandringham 3.3.21 10.4.64 18.7.115 23.10.148

Bendigo Bombers 3.4.22 6.9.45 8.10.58 12.13.85

Goals

Sandringham S Martin 5 McKenzie Weetra 4 Tregear Zarra 2 Hayes M Johnston Lyall Neaves Neville Williams

Bendigo Bombers Roberts 4 Leech Maddern 2 Dillon Duscher Kanters Meade

Best

Sandringham S Martin Weetra Collyer M Johnston Paule Neaves

Bendigo Bombers Pilcher Bowe Crameri O'Keefe Roberts Leech

Chris Johnson - it was good to see him getting an opportunity in the middle and he putting in a strong performance. His disposal was generally very good and I look forward to seeing how he develops under his next senior coach.

I only caught a little bit of the game (on TV), but it seemed as if many of CJ's kicks failed to hit the target - I can recall a few dropping short. May have just been the bits I saw though.