Norwood shows true grit in SANFL fightback against Adelaide

MICHAEL Newton single-handedly destroyed Adelaide with eight goals on Friday night as Norwood heroically fought back after conceding the first five majors.

Norwood v Adelaide at the Parade. Picture: Deb Curtis

MICHAEL Newton single-handedly destroyed Adelaide with eight goals on Friday night as Norwood heroically fought back after conceding the first five of the match to effectively save their season with a 31-point win at The Parade.

The Crows were bolstered by several big-name AFL inclusions and stunned the home side with an early onslaught, but the Redlegs responded with a gritty performance to improve their record to 3-4 after an indifferent start to the year.

Even with Sam Shaw, Andy Otten and Luke Thompson in the team, Adelaide had no answer for high-flying Newton, who kicked four goals in the third quarter alone and a brilliant 8.1 for the match.

But it was another excitement machine who helped sealed the result early in the last term when second-gamer Anthony Wilson won a 50m sprint to the footy, danced around his opponent in the pocket and snapped a goal to set the crowd alight.

Ian Callinan highlighted his importance to Adelaide's side with a four-goal return from a hamstring injury and midfielder Jarryd Lyons produced his third solid game in succession.

But the Crows weren't able to match Norwood's complete team performance in which they spread the workload — evidenced by just three Redlegs players finishing with 20 disposals.

The Crows were off to a flyer with five goals in the first 20 minutes and dominated possession in the opening term as it took the shell-shocked Redlegs 24 minutes to find an answer with a goal to Simon Phillips.

Norwood hit the ground running in the second quarter and got the first two goals through Tim Webber and Phillips and the margin was back to four points.

Suddenly it was the Crows who couldn't get the footy past halfway as Peter Bampton, Webber and Matthew Panos got involved in the middle and Newton kicked two goals for the quarter.

A costly free kick and even more costly 25m penalty took Brady Dawe to the goal line in time-on and remarkably the home side took a three-point lead into the main break.

It was goal for goal early in the third term and Norwood's young guns started getting involved with Tullio Dematteis and Kristian Roocke applying pressure to the Crows.

Adelaide got the first two goals only for Norwood to hit back with the next three and Newton really began to impose himself with his fourth goal for the term soon after which all started with Kane Murphy's brilliant smother on the wing.

From there the Redlegs refused to wilt and kicked two of the first three goals of the fourth quarter to make sure of their victory which ensures the reigning premier remains in touch with the top five.

The only blow was an injury to young gun Bampton who hobbled from the field with what appeared to be an ankle injury in the last quarter.

NORWOOD 2.3 7.6 13.7 16.9 (105)

ADELAIDE 5.2 7.3 1.6 11.8 (74)

Norwood Oval

BEST — Norwood: Newton, Webber, Kirwan, Wilson, Dawe, Bode, Evans. Adelaide: Lyons, Ellis-Yolmen, Callinan, Otten, Battersby.

GOALS — Norwood: Newton 8, Phillips 3, Webber, Dematteis, Dawe, Roocke, Wilson. Adelaide: Lyons, Callinan 4, Thompson, Carroll, McKernan.

UMPIRES — T. Philp, C. Cook, S. Hosking.