Eagles pushing for a double chance after 12-point win over Bulldogs

THE Eagles grabbed a share of third spot on the premiership ladder with a hard-fought 12-point victory over Central District at Woodville.

Eagles v Central

WOODVILLE-WEST Torrens grabbed a share of third spot on the premiership ladder with a hard-fought 12-point victory over Central District at Woodville on Saturday.

The Eagles took advantage of a strong wind at their backs for the first quarter to secure the accendency and they were able to hold the Bulldogs at arm's length to earn the crucial two premiership points.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak against the Bulldogs and they are now equal with West Adelaide on the ladder, albeit percentage below the Bloods.

It was just the response Eagles coach Michael Godden demanded after the poor performance against the Bloods last week.

"Last week was an abberation and the players responded in the way we would have expected them to," Godden said.

"Centrals are always tough to play and they threw a lot of things at us in the second half. But the boys stood tall.

"They looked like they were going to take it away from us in the second quarter but the boys held strong."

Despite kicking with the wind, the Eagles conceded the opening goal to Ian Callinan and they needed nine minutes to register a score courtesy of a Nick Salter snap.

The Bulldogs pressure smothered the Eagles movement early but the home side was able to build a handy 20-point buffer, only to cough up the final goal of the quarter to the visitors.

It was all the Bulldogs for the early minutes of the second term and they cut the deficit to just six points.

But their momentum was halted by back-to-back goals in two minutes to the Eagles on their first two forays into the attacking 50m for the quarter.

The Eagles had 66 more possessions for the first half, outmuscled the Bulldogs at times and had more personnel prepared to show conviction at the contest.

Godden is not noted for playing the loose man in defence but adopts the tactic to counter a similar ploy by opponents. On Saturday, it was Scott Lewis with the job of defensive general and he was outstanding.

He read the play well and the Eagles were able to constantly release him to spark attacking raids.

The Eagles led by 22 points early in the final term before the Bulldogs rallied and scrambled to within seven points.

However, too often a lack of composure and poor decision making by the Bulldogs would result in a mistake and the Eagles pounced.

The Bulldogs were also guilty of simply bombing the ball into attack with little thought and Eagles ruckman Craig Parry, patrolling the defensive zone for the final quarter, shut down anxious moments for the home side.

"Apart from a 10 minute period in the last quarter when we played with some good intensity, I thought we were flat and not aggressive enough," Bulldogs coach Roy Laird said.

"The Eagles slipped too many tackles and our attack on the footy was not good enough."

EAGLES        4.2  6.3  8.7 10.8 (68)

BULLDOGS  2.0  5.2  5.4   8.8 (56)

BEST - Eagles: Lewis, Raymond, Ellis-Yolmen, Petrenko, Giuffreda, Rowntree. Central: Thomas, Reichert, Goodrem, Guilhaus, Symes.

SCORERS - Eagles: Goldsworthy 2.3, Borholm 2.1, Allmond, Salter 2.0, Hall, Ellis-Yolmen 1.0, Ainger, Martyn 0.1, rushed 0.2. Central: Callinan 2.1, Dunne 2.0, Boyd, Collier, Williams, J. Schiller 1.0, Habel, Glenn 0.2, Jenner 0.1, rushed 0.2.

INJURIES - Eagles: Hall (finger).

UMPIRES - S. Hay, T. Medlin, L. Haussen.