SANDRINGHAM’S season has come to a close after succumbing to the top-of-the-table Port Melbourne by 47 points in Saturday’s semi-final at North Port Oval.

Sandringham was playing catch-up all day as Port Melbourne continually peppering the goal, with only inaccuracy keeping the Zebras in the contest.

It ends a positive season for Sandringham, who recorded the club’s first finals win last week since 2006 despite the high number of players moving between the Saints’ senior side.

Sandringham coach Simon McPhee said post-game that he was proud of the team’s achievements and development over the course of the year.
“To make the finals and then win a final is definitely a positive,” McPhee said.

“The experience our young Saints players got [in finals] is invaluable.”

In a blistering opening quarter of finals footy, both teams attacked the contest with ferocious pressure with the home side adjusting best to the contest, booting the opening three goals of the game to get the Boroughs off to the perfect start.

A Trent Dennis-Lane goal was pivotal to settling the Zebras, halting Port Melbourne’s momentum before setting up too much of a lead for Sandringham to chase. A further goal to Port Melbourne was countered by another nice goal to Dennis-Lane to leave the Zebras trailing by 10 points at quarter time.

With all to play for, the Zebras came out strongly in the second quarter, booting the opening two goals to briefly take the lead for the first time all afternoon but it was short-lived, as Port Melbourne hit back hard to take 13-point lead into the main break.
The third quarter demonstrated why the Boroughs finished two wins clear in top position, as Port Melbourne pummeled the Sandringham defence with the ball locked almost entirely in Port’s forward half.

Two quick goals to Spencer White and Darren Minchington brought the margin back to within 12 points for the Zebras, however Sandringham were not able to dent the lead any further as Port Melbourne extended the lead back out to 21 points at the final change.

All hopes of a Sandringham comeback were dashed early into the final quarter as Port Melbourne quickly extended the margin to beyond five goals to effectively end the contest with the final margin blowing out to 47 points.

With the alignment between St Kilda and Sandringham extended to the end of 2016, McPhee noted just how important the relationship between the two clubs remains.

“It’s outstanding, the experience the players get such as Jason Holmes playing finals today and playing well is brilliant,” McPhee said.

“We’ve seen the development of players all the way through, we’ve seen Seb Ross separate from being a really good VFL player into an AFL player and we’ve seen Darren Minchington starting to do the same.”

“For the Saints players to be exposed to that level of footy on a regular is invaluable and the alliance is really strong.”

PORT MELBOURNE  4.5 7.11  10.19  16.23  119
SANDRINGHAM  3.1  6.4  9.4  11.6  72

Goals: Ong 2, Dunell 2, Minchington 2, Dennis-Lane 2, Banfield, White, Kreymborg
Best: Ross, Minchington, Simpkin, Dunell, Shenton