BY DANIEL JOYCE
The Eastern Ranges have suffered their second straight loss, going down to the Sandringham Dragons by 43 points last Saturday. Incredibly the Ranges still find themselves in 6th position for the third straight week, still a game and percentage clear inside the top eight.
The Dragons dominated from start to finish. They kicked 11 straight majors from their first 11 shots on goal, setting up what would be an insurmountable lead. Eastern was competitive in the first quarter, having more of the play, but failed to capitalise on the scoreboard kicking 2.4. While up the other end the Dragons were taking all of their opportunities as they kicked four goals straight
This trend continued into the second quarter as the Dragons kicked a further five majors to make it 11 goals from 11 shots on goal. The only behind that was registered for Sandy was rushed, while it took until the final three minutes of the half for the Ranges to register a second quarter score as Shaun Lovell kicked Eastern’s third goal. This was followed by another shortly after when Joshua Begley kicked one on the halftime siren.
During the halftime break coach Darren Bewick asked his players to stem the bleeding, if they could do that they could get back into the match. They certainly came out playing a better brand of football, and were able to hold their opposition to just four second half goals, with two coming in each quarter. Unfortunately up the other end Eastern could only manage to add five more to their total.
On a gloomy day at Box Hill, it was a gloomy result for the Ranges, who will be bitterly disappointed with the result.
NEXT UP:
With no match this weekend, the boys return to action in Round 10 against the Calder Cannons in two weeks time. This will be the second time this year the Ranges take on Calder, who currently sits at 8th on the ladder with a 3-4 win-loss record. In their Round 1 encounter, Eastern got over the line comfortably, and will be hoping they can do the same in this upcoming game. The match will be at Box Hill City Oval.
EASTERN RANGES: 2.4 4.5 4.10 7.11 (53)
SANDRINGHAM DRAGONS: 4.0 11.1 13.4 15.6 (96)
GOALS:
Eastern Ranges: McCormack 2, Haynes, Stavrou, Begley, Lovell, Norris.
Sandringham Dragons: Lyons 3, Walker 3, Maloney 2, McLean 2, Trew 2, James, Magoni, Howard.
BEST:
Eastern Ranges:Haynes, Norris, Begley, O’Sullivan, North, Stanley.
Sandringham Dragons:Trew, Lyons, McLean, Brayshaw, Walker, Lok.
Last Modified on 07/06/2016 13:20