Box Hill Hawks have survived an almighty scare to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat

The Box Hill Hawks have survived an almighty scare to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat; having looked to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory just minutes earlier.

The Hawks lead Sandringham by as much as 43-points midway through the second term, only to be sensationally headed after St. Kilda forward Anthony Caminiti kicked his third of the afternoon at the 25-and-a-half minute mark of the fourth quarter to give his side a two-point lead – their biggest advantage of the day.

Played in front of a boisterous crowd at Wonthaggi Recreation Reserve, there was one last twist in the tale deep into time on. Stu Horner, the Club’s longest tenured active player – who was playing his 50th senior match for the Club – steered through his first-ever goal for the Club to reclaim the lead and the all-important four points.

It was a remarkable conclusion to a rollicking afternoon of VFL footy, but with the Hawks in complete control early on few who watched the first half would’ve predicted the contest would go down to the wire.

After Cooper Sharman opened the scoring with a behind, Max Ramsden, Max Hall and Ben Cavarra piled on three goals in barely four minutes to give their side a more than handy early break.

The Zebras’ William Brown kicked a timely goal for his side to get them on the board, but it was quickly cancelled out by the Hawks’ Josh Bennetts.

The two sides traded behinds in an entertaining albeit goalless 10-minute spell as quarter time approached, before the dangerous, crafty Cavarra kicked goals two and three of the term just two minutes apart.

A Cooper Sharman goal was the only bright spot for Sandringham through fourteen second quarter minutes dominated by the Hawks – who hit the scoreboard via Ramsden, Wood, Cavarra and Stefanakis to kick away to the aforementioned and game-high 43-point lead.

A late Caminiti goal trimmed the margin ever-so-slightly, but gave his side hope the second half could be better.

In truth, the biggest difference between the two sides was efficiency in front of goal. Whereas the Hawks had made the most of their chances to establish a seemingly match-winning lead, the Zebras had been terribly wasteful.

It’s overly simplistic to suggest both teams had had 14 scoring shots by half-time and therefore should’ve been closer on the scoreboard, but the 35-point margin did paint an unrealistic picture of the gap between the sides.

Renewed and refreshed following the long break, Sandringham wouldn’t and couldn’t be denied. They slowly began chipping away at the deficit bit by bit and would make significant headway late in the third term to draw within 20-points by the final change of ends.