Injury-hit Norwood played below its best in the win over South Adelaide in the SANFL

This was far from Norwood at its best and the Redlegs had their injury worries, but they got the points with a gutsy at Noarlunga Oval.

South Adelaide's Jaidan Kappler can’t escape the tackle of Norwood’s Cody Szust. Picture Dean Martin

NORWOOD coach Jarrod Cotton described the two-point victory over South Adelaide at Noarlunga Oval on Monday as being among the most gutsy in his three-year tenure.

The Redlegs, outplayed for much of the game, finished the contest with no reinforcements on the bench and Alex Georgiou and Peter Bampton passengers on the field carrying injuries.

When Panthers coach Jarrad Wright emerged from his chat with the players, he admitted to being gutted, disappointed his side had coughed up a prime chance to climb back into the top three on the ladder.

Instead, the Redlegs have escaped to a two-game advantage over fourth-placed Panthers, who are only percentage above Sturt and Port Adelaide and a game ahead of a surging Woodville-West Torrens.

This was a contest about which team was able to grasp its opportunities and had the composure in those critical moments coaches reflect on.

South's Malcolm Karpany breaks away from Norwood's Cole Gerloff and kicks a goal in the first quarter. Picture Dean Martin

Norwood's Cameron Shenton takes a screamer over South's Mark Noble. Picture Dean Martin

Even Cotton confessed the Panthers’ half-time advantage should have been much greater than the 15 points. And the Panthers were punished for not taking advantage of its opportunities.

Cotton had to revert to an old-fashioned rev up at half-time to spark his side into action.

“I don’t normally get aggressive with the playing group, but I got aggressive with them at half-time,” Cotton said. “It was more the response, after half-time we were able to play some pretty good footy.

“We had no one on the bench and Georgiou and Bampton should not have been on the ground, so we were virtually playing with 16 for 15 minutes.

“It was gutsy. We did not play our best footy, but in the third quarter we got a lot of momentum and played how we want to play.

“That win showed a lot of character.”

The Redlegs had a strong wind at their backs for the first quarter and they had to rely on two poor turnovers from the home side to grab the quarter-time lead.

Joel Cross led from the front for the Panthers as they gained total control of the second term, creating uncertainty among the Redlegs in defence and putting the visitors under pressure with relentless defensive actions.

The Panthers dominated possession and the inside 50 count, and as Cotton noted, the half-time lead should have been bigger.

Midway through the third term, the Redlegs got into rhythm with Dom Barry and Lewis Johnstone having an influence pushing the side into attack.

The Redlegs bagged four of the final five goals for the third term and when they added the first two of the final quarter, their lead had exploded to 27 points.

“It is a broken record at the moment,” Wright said. “We play so well for so long, but have patches when we can’t compete strongly enough and lack composure around the footy.”

NORWOOD 4.1 5.3 12.7 14.9 (93)

SOUTH ADELAIDE 3.3 7.6 9.10 13.13 (91)

BEST - Norwood: McKenzie, Barry, Johnston, Gerloff, Shenton, Georgiou. South: Cross, Cailotto, Davis, Liddle, Haines, Karpany.

GOALS - Norwood: Grigg, Barry, Johnston, Shenton, Gerloff 2, Szust, Bampton, Wilson, Wilkins. South: Cross 4, Karpany, Emery 2, Haines, Noble, Heaslip, Fitt, Whittlesea.

INJURIES - Norwood: Bode (ankle), Smart (hamstring), Grigg (back).

UMPIRES - Broadbent, Morgan, Bowen.

CROWD - 2191 at Flinders University Stadium, Noarlunga.