Central District snap three-game losing streak against West Adelaide 69-56 at Richmond Oval
A GRITTY Central District bounced back from a poor fortnight to account for West Adelaide by 13 points in stormy weather at Richmond Oval.
A GRITTY Central District bounced back from a poor fortnight to account for West Adelaide by 13 points in stormy weather at Richmond Oval.
The match was a slog from start to finish, as the heavy rain made clean disposal difficult, but the Bulldogs did enough to snap a three-game losing streak against West.
It came without skipper Paul Thomas, who sustained a sickening hand injury in the game's opening minutes, which led to him passing out in the race and being taken to hospital for X-rays.
The gutsy win keeps the Bulldogs in the top five and gives them some confidence after disappointing displays against Port Adelaide and Norwood in their previous two games.
"It was a really competitive, physical effort and that was going to need to be the base of our game, baring in mind where we've been the last couple of games," Central coach Roy Laird said. "We tackled and defended really well.
"It was important our senior players did stand up after the loss of Thomas and I thought they did that."
Central skipped out to an early lead thanks to strong defensive pressure and a string of Bloods turnovers between the two 50-metre arcs.
Ian Callinan kicked the first major of the game after seven minutes, reading a spillage perfectly to slot a typical crumber's goal.
West responded through a Daniel Webb snap nine minutes later but Bulldogs spearhead Justin Hardy booted two late goals to give his side momentum going into quarter time.
The Bulldogs finished the quarter with 22 inside 50s, compared to West's seven.
Central was not always tidy in the second quarter and coughed up a couple of cheap goals but always managed to respond to whatever the Bloods threw at it.
The Bulldogs kicked a responding goal within 90 seconds of all three Bloods majors for the quarters and finished the quarter with back-to-back goals to stretch their lead to 16 points at half-time.
The third quarter was an arm-wrestle with only three goals kicked.
Brayden O'Hara capped off a quick transition from defence to attack to kick the first goal of the last term.
Ten minutes later, a poor West turnover at half-back led to an easy Luke Habel major that stretched Central's lead to 20 points and effectively iced the game.
The match ended in an electrical storm, as lightning struck in the vicinity of the ground and rain poured until the final siren.
West's defensive pressure was terrific but it butchered a host of scoring opportunities, through poor goalkicking and too many misdirected inside 50 entries.
It also did not make the most of its 50-37 clearance dominance.
The Bloods finished the game with 17 fit men after injuries to Joel Tippett, Ryan Anderson, Aaron Fielke and Brad Moran.
"It was always going to be a game of inches and we in most statistics except on the scoreboard," West coach Andrew Collins said.
"Our decision-making going forward, even in those conditions, was poor.
"If we took the ball inside 50 a bit better we win the game."
League
West 1.1 4.6 6.11 7.14 (56)
Central 3.3 7.4 8.8 10.9 (69)
BEST
West: Schmidt, Tuck, Bricknell, Slattery, Beech, Green.
Central: Symes, Goodrem, Williams, Waldhuter, Colquhoun, Hardy, Callinan, Boyd.
SCORES
West: Beech 3.1, Anderson, Slattery, Webb 1.1, Ferguson 1.0, rushed 0.5, Fielke, Mangan, Moran, Rankine, Tuck 0.1.
Central: Hardy 4.0, Habel, O'Hara 1.2, Glenn, Guilhaus 1.1, Callinan, Colquhoun 1.0, rushed 0.2, Waldhuter 0.1.
INJURIES/ REPORTS:
West: Anderson (shoulder), Tippett (ankle), Fielke (shoulder), Moran (calf)
Central: Thomas (hand)
CROWD: 1568 at Richmond Oval.
Reserves
Central 4.4 6.8 11.11 13.13 (91)
West 3.2 5.7 6.8 8.11 (59)
BEST -
Central: T. Schiller, Potter, Haydon, Nason, Dutschke, Vater.
West: Not supplied.
GOALS -
Central: Templeton, Hills, S. Milne 2, Vater, Kovatseff, Potter, T. Schiller, Haydon, Nason, M. White.
West: Not supplied.