NORTH Ballarat dodged a bullet to stave off Sandringham by 13 points in the Victorian Football League at Sandringham on Saturday.The Roosters were never headed in winning 15.14 (104) to 12.19 (91), but there was nothing clear cut about it.Sandringham stretched North Ballarat to the limit - drawing level eight minutes into the third quarter as it repeatedly surged.However, each time the St Kilda-aligned Zebras loomed dangerously, North Ballarat had the answers.The third quarter provided the best example of this with four goals in six minutes.Gavin Urquhart also fitted the bill when he snapped a goal from outside 50 metres after Sandringham had closed within eight points in time-one in the last term.The Selkirk Roosters easily had Sandringham's measure in the opening term kicking five goals to lead by 29 points.Not for the first time this season though, North Ballarat released its grip in the second quarter and the Zebras worked their back into contention.The Roosters did the same against Northern Bullants, Casey Scorpions, Frankston and Werribee Tigers.Casey is the only team to have gone on to defeat North Ballarat, but coach Gerard FitzGerald agreed it was an issue.He said the Roosters needed to put together four solid quarters.North Ballarat expected Sandringham to roll players back to clog up its attacking half.This is exactly what happened and again the Roosters struggled to adjust to the tactic.Not only did they break down in attack, they also over-used the football and fell below the efficiency rate sought by FitzGerald.FitzGerald said it was not just a matter of opposition players pushing back and playing defensive roles.He said the challenge was to stop these players becoming dangerous in transition.For all this, the steady heads of Steve Clifton, Ed Lower, Shaune Moloney, Josh Smith and Corey Jones ensured that North Ballarat did what it needed to remain the competition pacesetter."It was a solid test," FitzGerald said."We worked very hard."Our culture is that we want to go work ... and we did that," he said.FitzGerald said the match was a further reminder of how tight the competition was."We've come home with another four (premierships) points."That's a good result," he said.