BY DANIEL ATAMIAN
It was a cold May night down at Moorabbin’s RSEA Park as the Coburg Lions took on the Sandringham Zebras in this week’s Round 10 VFL clash.
Both teams started slow but it was the Zebras who were able to find ways to score once they kicked the first goal of the game in the 10th minute.
The Lions struggles to notch a score for themselves, entering the quarter time break with only a behind to Aaron Clarke, Sandringham carried a 22 point lead going into the first term break.
The Burgers would soon find their feet in the 2nd quarter when Hugo McGlashan kicked the Lions first goal from a set shot delivered to him from a free kick awarded to Josh D’Intinosante, the goal would be the igniter that the Lions would be looking for as they began to push the tempo of the game.
Braedyn Gillard; who ended the game with a team high 32 disposals, would then break the game open through the middle, delivering a kick off a dash to D’Intinosante who would convert for the Lions second major.
Riding on the momentum of breaking through on the scoreboard the Burgers dug deep to break through the Sandringham defense as Josh Kemp would run into an open goal square for the Lions third, it wouldn’t be long before Nathan Boucher would join the list of goal kickers as a deep entry ball would find the Lions speedster who would slot the ball through the big sticks to bring the Lions back within 18 points at the half time break.
Going into the 3rd term, Coburg would go blow for blow with Sandringham as the Lions seemed to have an answer for every goal the Zebras would score with Will Bella making the first move followed by Clarke and then by Kemp kicking his second major for the game who would bring the game within 13 points.
Kemp’s exploits on the field would not be confined to kicking goals as he would display his electric style of game play by going airborne to pluck the ball with a monster of a hanger over the Zebras Osacar Adams, with the momentum building like their confidence in their gameplay the Lions looked poised to make a thrilling come back and pinch the win off Sandringham.
The final term did not turn the fortunes of the Lions as the second and third term as Sandringham, featuring 12 AFL players the likes of Tim Membrey, Zane Cordy, Jack Billings and Tom Campbell, would go on a roll of scoring goals with their first coming in the 41 second mark of the fourth term as they would put their foot on the accelerator to seal the game with their 6 goal haul in the final term while the Burgers could only muster up a point as the Zebras would close out the game as 57 point winners.
The positives for Coburg were the debut of 19 year old Ingo Dammersmith as a calm and composed key defender, Ben Jepson’s continued form and the return to the side of Josh D’Intinosante and Josh Kemp who took their chances when they arrived.
SCORES
SAN: 3.5.23 | 6.9.45 | 9.13.67 |15.13.103
COB: 0.1.1 | 4.3.27 | 7.3.45 | 7.4.46
Coburg Goals:
Kemp 2, Clarke, Bella, Boucher, D’Intinosante, McGlashan 1.
Coburg Best:
Dammersmith, B Jepson, Boucher, Weightman, Kemp, D’Intinosante.
Stay tuned next week as The Lions host the Werribee Tigers at Piranha Park on Saturday 3 June at 1:05pm.
#WeAreCoburg #LionMode
