SANFL 2015: Woodville-West Torrens beat Norwood by 11 points

WOODVILLE-West Torrens locked Norwood out of a vital double-chance finals spot and iced its own minor premiership with a tense 11-point win at The Parade Saturday.

29/08/15 - Norwood v Eagles at Coopers' Stadium in Norwood. Eagles' Michael Wundke and Norwood's Alexis Greorgiou compete for the ball. Photo Tom Huntley

WOODVILLE-West Torrens locked Norwood out of a vital double-chance finals spot and iced its own minor premiership with a tense 11-point win at The Parade Saturday.

The ladder-topping Eagles led for only 10 minutes all day, and never by more than five points until Scott Lewis’ closing goal from 53m on the final siren.

The win in a stoppage-fest that was as close in intensity to a final the home-and-away season could offer and ensures the Eagles a winning streak of five going into the major round.

Crucially, it amplified Woodville-West Torrens’ reputation as the No. 1 clutch side in the league. The club has now has a record of 8-1 in their nine games decided by three goals or less this season.

The Eagles, who could welcome back James Boyd for September, have the added reward of resting next weekend before a semi-final against either Port Adelaide or West Adelaide.

“Win, lose or draw, I was excited because it was a real battle,” Eagles coach Michael Godden said. “In terms of perfect preparation, we got it today. You can’t simulate that at training and the boys will be sore from it.

“I like to win, we knew there was a bigger picture, but we got exactly what we needed out of that.”

For Norwood, the Redlegs needed to draw or beat the Eagles to jump to third place ahead of West, before the Bloods take on Port Sunday.

Eagle Jared Petrenko leads Norwood's Timothy Webber for the ball. Photo: Tom Huntley

And late in the final term a draw loomed as a possibility when Eagles forward Michael Wundke booted his third goal to level scores at 49 points each.

The deadlock was broken by a Norwood behind with only four minutes left to play, but the Eagles rallied when Sam Martyn converted a diving mark 45m out, and Lewis bombed his long-range shot as the siren went.

The loss leaves the Redlegs in fourth place, and facing an elimination final against Central District at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

It also dragged their win-loss count to 1-4 in the past five games, with their sole victory against wooden-spooner North Adelaide.

Norwood will lament several missed chances, especially in the second and final quarters when they were held goal-less.

“After the start to the year we had it’s disappointing to miss out on the top three,” Redlegs coach Ben Warren said.

“But in terms of what we brought today, the effort, we can be very proud.

“We didn’t get the points but all the key indicators pointed to a victory for us,’’ Warren said.

“We just had too many costly errors that hurt us on the scoreboard.’’

EAGLES 2.1 4.2 6.6 9.7 (61)

NORWOOD 4.2 4.3 7.4 7.8 (50)

Goals: Eagles: Ainger, Wundke 3, Hall, Lewis, Martyn. Norwood: Panos 2, Ferreira, Murphy, Phillips, Newton, Roocke.

Best: Eagles: Rowntree, Allmond, Hall, Schwarz, Ainger, Poole, Thompson. Norwood: Dawe, Suckling, Webber, Murphy, Bode, Phillips.

Injuries/reports: None

Umpires: Sboro, Philp, Cook.