Sunday 29th July saw U17 Sandy-Rovers return to the Boss for their final home game of season after a successful outing against South Melbourne the week before.
With a somewhat different training session being held this week at Moorabbin indoor sports, the boys were calm and collected heading into to Sundays game, and it showed massively in the first quarter as we kicked 6 goals straight to 1 goal against the howling wind that Oakleigh had chosen to go with after winning the toss.
The second term was another impressive showing from our boys as we added another 5 goals with the wind at our backs, allowing us to take a commanding 61 point lead into the half time break.
With morale being at an all time high, the boys were keen to keep up the great performance they had shown in the first half. The 3rd term saw Oakleigh finding the scoreboard more as they hit back quickly with 2 goals from fast centre clearances early on in the quarter. Our boys steadied and were able to take back control of the footy again; playing better structured tempo football, which ended with us winning the quarter once again.
The final term was a real chance to put the final nail in Oakleigh’s coffin with the wind advantage, our piercing long balls into our forward line were able to break Oakleigh’s line of defence time and time again, resulting in a 4 goal to zero final quarter. The final score read Sandy Rovers 18.6=114 to Oakleigh 3.4=22, a commanding victory being the result of a solid team performance throughout all 4 quarters.
Singling-out specific players who played well was extremely difficult this week as everybody played their role in the victory, however there were some who shone through. Cooper Goulding, who shut down their best midfielder all day and is always reliable when it comes to giving him a role saw him earn best-on-ground honours. Cam Morris, who booted 3 goals and saw a lot of the footy with his many contested grabs down forward and in the midfield. Liam O’Driscoll, who bagged 4 goals in a dominant key forward outing, and lastly Danny Lambrinos, whose tackling pressure around our goal was great, but even more so, his first goal for the team this year. A genuine highlight in a great win!
With a successful 2 weeks behind us, we look to build on our growing momentum against Cheltenham/Highett nest week in the 2nd to last home-and-away fixture for the season.
Tom
