Central District too tough for South Adelaide in the wet

CENTRAL District showed glimpses of the toughness that symbolised its decade at the top by holding off South Adelaide by 24 points on Saturday.

Central v South

CENTRAL District showed glimpses of the toughness that symbolised its decade at the top of the SANFL by holding off a dogged South Adelaide by 24 points on Saturday.

The Bulldogs' stronger bodies were telling in the wet and they were far more efficient than the Panthers who had more disposals and inside 50s, yet never threatened the home side after quarter time.

The only thing missing from the win was the knockout punch which Central has struggled to find in order to put teams away this year.

"That's the next stage of our side, we've had some solid wins against good opposition but good sides have that ruthless streak and we're not displaying that at the moment," Bulldogs coach Roy Laird said.

"We had a pretty solid first quarter and were pretty much in control after that but I would have liked to have seen our overall effort and energy level a bit higher.

"I didn't think our intensity was at the level that we've been able to get to and overall our pressure on them wasn't quite good enough."

Several of Central's young players stepped up yesterday with Corey Reichert producing a shut-down job on Michael Wundke and Jarrod Schiller tagging Nick Liddle out of the game.

Sam Colquhoun was best on ground, Josh Glenn showed he's going to be a good player and ex-Sydney Swan Jackson Potter played the type of debut that will win over the Elizabeth faithful by hitting in hard at the contest and sticking his tackles.

The Panthers were competitive and despite conceding two quick goals in the second term, remained with the home side. Midfielder Joel Cross was huge for his team and Nathan Daniel played one of his best games for the club across half back.

"We certainly worked hard and were competitive enough but our forwards just didn't capitalise enough and we missed some easy goals," South coach Ron Fuller said.

"It was a bit frustrating but the effort has been there for a month which is terrific."

South made the better start but Central wrestled back control through two brilliant goals from Glenn - both courtesy of some clever manouvering and snaps around his body.

The Dogs would have led by more at quarter time had Ian Callinan not hit the post twice but equally, South wasted opportunities in front of their goal.

Wet weather made for ugly, scrappy footy and the game began to get away from the Panthers in the second term when Justin Hardy kicked back-to-back goals.

South worked overtime in defence led by Patrick Kerin and Daniel but they couldn't get any momentum going forward and suffered a blow when Brett Eddy was stretchered from the ground with an ankle injury after a marking contest.

For all of Central's dominance it only led by three goals at half time and the Panthers dominated play for the opening 10 minutes of the third quarter. But as had been the problem all game, they couldn't put it on the scoreboard and the Dogs went straight up the other end and Luke Habel kicked a goal.

The Panthers got the first goal of the last term and were all over the Bulldogs but either missed simple shots or made poor decisions inside 50 as Central steadied late to ensure their spot in the top five is secure for another week at least.

CENTRAL DISTRICT  2.3  5.5  7.5  8.11 (59)

SOUTH ADELAIDE      1.4  2.6  2.8  4.11 (35)

BEST - Central: Colquhoun, O'Hara, Callinan, Schiller, Glenn, Boyd, Reichert. South: Daniel, Cross, Fields, Seccull, McDonald, Kerin.

SCORERS - Central: Glenn, Hardy 2.1, Callinan 1.2, O'Hara, Habel 1.1, Williams 1.0, Jenner, Symes, Guilhaus 0.1, rushed 0.2. South: Shaw, Wundke 1.1, Seccull, Snook 1.0, Crabb 0.3, Cross, Kerin, Eddy 0.1, rushed 0.3.

INJURIES - South: Eddy (ankle).

UMPIRES - C. Bowen, C. Deboy, S. Hosking.