MRS Property League Match Report Round 6: South vs North

MRS Property League Match Report

South Adelaide vs North Adelaide
Round 6 -Prospect Oval - 01/08/20

Goals: Overall, McCreery, Cailotto 2, Cross, Sampson
Best: Highmore, Broadbent, Summerton, Haines
Injuries: Karpany (Calf)
Full Injury List

South Adelaide suffer their second loss of the season after their spirited fightback falls just eight points shy of North Adelaide during a top of the table clash at Prospect Oval on Saturday.

In a game where nothing seemed to go the Panthers way South Adelaide managed to fightback and get within a kick of taking the lead, but time proved to be their biggest enemy as they fell to a bitter 8.10 (58) to 9.12 (66) defeat.

Kicking with the wind advantage in the opening term, the Panthers struck first after just a minute, as their end to end play was finished off nicely by Hayden Sampson.

It wouldn't be until the nineth minute mark that North Adelaide would be on the board with their first major of the day to which the Panthers were able to respond to almost instantly as a strong overhead mark by Sam Overall allowed him go back and kick truly.

South Adelaide would continue to put forward pressure on the home side, but the Roosters were able to minimise the damage as South's three final scores of the opening term were all rushed behind but still the Panthers held an early 2.4 (16) to 1.1 (7) lead at the first change.

The Panthers were able to extend their lead during the opening minutes of the second term, as an undisciplined action by North allowed Beau McCreery to kick his first goal of the match.

But following this goal, North Adelaide would begin to take control of the match, as their advantages in both the clearance count and inside 50s began to result in scoreboard pressure for the Panthers. 

With the momentum swinging into North Adelaide's favour, and the home-crowd beginning to influence the match the Roosters piled on four unanswered goals to end the second term, which handed South Adelaide a 3.6 (24) to 5.5 (35) deficit at the main break.

With a half of football still yet to play, things got worse for the Panthers as they were forced to play with one less rotation as Malcolm Karpany was forced to the sidelines.

North Adelaide continued on with their momentum during the second half, as the Roosters kicked the first two goals of the third term within just the first six minutes.

With plenty of ground to catch up, South Adelaide began to turn things around and looked dangerous in the process, but their repeated inside 50s were wasted, either due to costly turnovers or costly frees.

It was not until the twelfth minute mark that the Panthers could stem the flow of Roosters goals, thanks to a strong pack mark and conversion by Alex Cailotto. Minutes later, an Overall intercept mark in the middle of the ground allowed the Panthers to rebound and find McCreery, who finished off nicely to get his second goal of the match.

Suddenly, the Panthers found themselves with the momentum as they threatened to claw themselves back into the game.

Unfortunately, however, despite the ball spending plenty of time up-forward, the Roosters were able to rebound and draw a very contentious free-kick dead in front of goal, which allowed them to steady as well as kill the Panthers newfound momentum. 

The Roosters came close to responding again with another goal just before the final break, but a goal-saving smother at half back by Joel Cross meant the Panthers headed into three quarter time with a little more manageable deficit of 5.8 (38) to 8.8 (56).

Despite being a man down, the final quarter was reminiscent of the final term in the Panthers other loss this season, as South Adelaide once again mounted a final term fightback.

The comeback began following Cross's first goal of the match, to which Cailotto was able to follow up to with his second goal of the match.

Then, just one minute after Cailtotto's goal, Overall was able to soccer the ball through for his second of the match, which also cut North's lead to under a goal.

However, with both sides playing with tired legs, and the Panthers kicking against the breeze, there would prove to be only one more goal left in the match which would unfortunately go the way of the Roosters, and the siren would sound to hand South a bitter 8.10 (58) to 9.12 (66) defeat.

The Panthers will now look to bounce back against Norwood at Coopers Stadium on Sunday August 9, from 2:10pm. 

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