SANFL: South Adelaide beat West Adelaide by 23 points

SOUTH Adelaide has moved to within touching distance of its first consecutive finals series in 23 seasons after one of the gutsiest wins in the club’s recent history at Noarlunga.

SOUTH Adelaide has moved to within touching distance of its first consecutive finals series in 23 seasons after one of the gutsiest wins in the club’s recent history at Noarlunga.

By the time the final siren rang Saturday the Panthers were down to one fit man on the bench against hard running West Adelaide.

But the real drama began early. Coach Brad Gotch received a phone call informing him small defender Tarak Redigolo had slipped at home and damaged tendons in his elbow, adding to an already shocking injury list. The accident meant debutant Jackson Heagney-Steart was thrown on to West’s most dangerous forward Aaron Fielke.

Fielke kicked five goals but Heagney-Steart battled manfully as South won by 23 points, meaning it needs only to win one of its final two matches to be assured finals action.

“I’m so proud of them today,’’ said Gotch, who re-signed at Noarlunga until the end of 2017 earlier in the week. “We stand for something now. We’ve got a shocking injury list at the moment but it doesn’t matter. We believe we’re a good side no matter who comes in and who goes out.”

The Bloods were playing to get back into the top three but they looked lacklustre at times without star Chris Schmidt.

West won plenty of the ball all day but couldn’t find its play-on game as South went in with a clear plan to suffocate the Bloods’ overlap and executed it. West led the inside-50 count, clearances and possessions 14 minutes into the second term but trailed by 29 points, as South had the more telling forward entries and cleaner ball movement.

Brett Eddy (five goals) gave state defender Tom Keough the run around all day while Adam Gulden, Joel Cross, Xavier Gotch and Nick Schwarz led the Panthers’ hard-working midfield.

The only dampener for South was more injuries with youngster Jack Haines hurting his AC joint and Jack Veide forced off with a possible medial ligament strain.

The Bloods must rediscover their clean ball movement and free-flowing play when they host Norwood in a high-stakes clash next Saturday.

“Credit to South, they were very good and I thought they just came ready to go,’’ Mickan said. “We finished the game with 11 more inside-50s and 24 more clearances but we were way down on the possession count and marks and that tells us our skill level was poor.”

SOUTH 3.3 7.5 12.7 13.9 (87)

WEST 1.5 5.7 7.7 9.10 (64)

BEST — South: Gulden, Cross, Eddy, Gotch, Durdin, Schwarz, Rose. West: Fielke, Schiller, Stevens, Caire, Hill.

GOALS — South: Eddy 5, Haren, Overall, Schwarz 2, Macloed, Gulden. West: Fielke 5, Green 2, Silverlock, Tuck.

UMPIRES — Bowen, Lally, Schramm

INJURIES — South: Haines (AC joint), Veide (knee)

CROWD — 1225