Bulldogs overcome Tigers in lack-lustre SANFL clash
CENTRAL District is still alive in the hunt for a finals berth, but it would need a vast improvement on the scrappy win over Glenelg at Elizabeth Oval.
WANT some evidence why Central District and Glenelg are on the bottom half of the SANFL ladder, watch a replay of their clash at Elizabeth Oval on Saturday.
Although clash is probably not the right word given the lack of intensity and flood of uncontested action.
Even the frenetic final minutes when the Tigers pushed for victory and the Bulldogs hung on grimly to win by two points could not hide an awful spectacle.
The positive for the Bulldogs is they jumped above Port Adelaide into the sixth spot on the points table and only four points behind South Adelaide. Port will front Woodville-West Torrens at Woodville Oval today.
“It did not feel like we brought a hard edge to the game, our tackling count was really poor,” Bulldogs coach Roy Laird said.
“Glenelg looked like it was running on top of the ground late. I take out of that that we were not physical enough early.
“We were not hard enough, not aggressive enough in all facets of the game.”
The Tigers put the home side on notice early with their hunger and ability to find space and work the ball well into attack. Their fine work was rewarded with the first two goals of the contest in the opening eight minutes, and they were kicking against a strong wind.
It took 14 minutes for the Bulldogs to string together a polished attacking raid from defence and set up a John Butcher goal.
The stats reflected a tight battle, on the scoreboard anyway, and the biggest margin was when the Bulldogs led by 13 points midway through the final quarter.
Both teams got plenty of free players back in defence and the Tigers backline, led by Max Proud, fed off poor movement by the Bulldogs deep into attack to have little trouble escaping.
The Tigers found loose players with ease and the uncontested mark tally was extremely high. The dropped mark count for both teams was also an issue.
The Bulldogs put Butcher into the midfield for the final quarter and he secured vital clean possessions, while defender Murray Stephenson went forward to have an impact.
Tigers coach Mark Stone said the game “slipped away a bit” and he lamented wasted opportunities in front of goal.
“Credit where it is due, they beat us,” he said. “We kicked 2.6 from turnovers so we have only ourselves to blame.”
CENTRAL DISTRICT 4.1 5.3 7.8 9.11 (65)
GLENELG 2.1 4.4 6.6 9.9 (63)
BEST - Central: T. Schiller, Butcher, J. Schiller, Dew, Barmby. Glenelg: Nicholson, Proud, Chalmers, Snook, Scott.
GOALS - Central: Butcher, Hoskin, Richardson 2, Dew, Furnell, Mahoney. Glenelg: Nicholson, Reynolds 2, Scharenberg, Uebergang, Snook, Scott, Cox.
UMPIRES - Bryce, Schramm, Scott.
CROWD - 1482 at My Money House Oval, Elizabeth.