By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG dealt cross-town foe Sandown a cruel blow at Greaves Reserve on Saturday.
Despite winning just one quarter of the Greater Dandenong derby, the Demons accounted for the Cobras by 29 points on the weight of an eight-goal first quarter.
In doing so, Dandenong looks to have condemned Sandown to yet another wooden spoon in Division Three.
The Demons aren’t travelling much better, but they swiftly discounted the possibility of an upset by kicking 8.6 to Sandown’s three behinds in the opening term.
To the Cobras’ credit, they fought back bravely to reduce the margin at every break and regain some respectability.
The surprise performance of the day came from Demon ball-magnet Ben O’Donnell, who took on the unfamiliar spearhead role, booting seven goals for the match.
Jayde Handfield (three goals), Vaughan Geddes (three) and Robbie Westin (two) capitalised on their own chances up forward, while Sareth Suon, Preoshun Poonaswamy and Glenn Kemp also found plenty of the ball.
For the Cobras, Shane Cosstick (two) continued his rich vein of form, while Michael Sinclair (six) and Paul Wright (five) led the resurgence in attack.
Sandown’s Brad Edwards and Zain Machfud had their best performances for the season to date.
The Cobras, who are now six points shy of seventh-placed Cerberus, will now need to effect a major upset in the remaining four rounds to escape the indignity of another spoon.
Dandenong is in sixth spot, but still five games adrift of the fifth-placed Doveton Eagles.
The Eagles were comfortably beaten by South Yarra at Power Reserve on Saturday, slumping to a 44-point deficit at three-quarter-time before cutting the margin to 26 at the final siren.
Sibling spearheads Ricky (three) and Darren Ramsdale (two) were well held by South Yarra’s defence, and the Eagles failed to seize the momentum until it was too late.
Geoff O’Neil, Cameron Van-nes and Joel Marie were among the winners for the home side.
In Division One, Springvale Districts hit the lowest ebb of its debut season in the top competition, losing to lowly Highett by eight points.
The Demons became Highett’s first victim for the year.
The hometown Bulldogs went into the final term with a 28-point buffer and held on desperately in the dying minutes.
Despite the embarrassing result, in-form Demons Nigel Scott and Daniel McKee could hold their heads high, while Leighton Ross chipped in with three goals.
Meanwhile, in Division Two, Lyndale lost every quarter of their clash with sixth-placed Ashwood at Barry Powell Reserve, going down by 64 points.
Adrian McCracken (four) was a livewire up forward for the Pumas, but Dale Weston was Lyndale’s best player for the second time in three weeks.
At Dingley’s Souter Reserve, Moorabbin posed no threat to the Dingoes’ unbeaten streak, as the home side triumphed by 118 points.
Clinton Brooks and Brett Gniel proved to be a devastating one-two punch for the Dingoes, booting six goals apiece to headline a dominant display.
Round 15 match-ups: Division One: Springvale Districts at Chelsea Heights. Division Two: Lyndale at Murrumbeena, Oakleigh Districts at Dingley Division Three: Canterbury at Doveton, Mount Waverley at Sandown.
