Sandringham has fallen to the in-form Northern Blues at Preston City Oval on Saturday afternoon, with the final scoreline reading 17.11 (117) to 10.15 (75).
The Zebras started with a bang, impressing with a seven-goal first quarter and a handy 20-point lead at the first change before the Blues took control.
The home side put on five majors to the Zebras’ one in the second term to take a three-point lead at the main break, including the first three goals of the quarter.
VFL coach Lindsay Gilbee had every right to be frustrated watching his side have six shots on goal and miss them all in a third term where the Blues added another two goals to their score line.
It was only a nine-point ball game at the last change with Gilbee holding hope of some last quarter heroics to steal an away win much like against Coburg a week ago.
The Josh Fraser-coached Blues put the foot down in front of their home crowd in the final term, producing a six-goal quarter that the Zebras could only match with two majors of their own to go down by 42-points.
Injury watch
Sandringham lost Jack Lonie just before quarter time with a suspected ankle injury but he was able to shake that off and finish the game with his 21 disposals as one of the better performed Zebras.
St Kilda utility Nathan Wright also went down with concussion in the first half and didn’t return after the main break but confirmation from VFL coach Lindsay Gilbee suggests he’ll be right to play next weekend.
Who stood out?
St Kilda youngster Nick O’Kearney led the disposal count with 32 and laid seven tackles in a standout game along with Shane Savage and Bailey Rice who picked up 28 and 18 disposals respectively.
Savage and Rice laid another seven tackles between them while Josh Battle picked up 14 disposals and a goal in his first game back from injury.
Nathan Freeman battled hard to finish with 20 disposals working well with Kade Answerth, who finished with 16 disposals and nine tackles by game’s end.
