Woodville-West Torrens defeat Norwood by 20 points

WOODVILLE-West Torrens took a huge step towards a crucial top three spot when it overcame an indifferent first half to conquer Norwood by 20 points at Woodville Oval on Saturday.

12/7/2014 Action from SANFL: Eagles v Norwood at Woodville Oval today Norwood runs away with the kick ...PHOTO DAVE CRONIN

WOODVILLE-West Torrens took a huge step towards a crucial top three spot when it overcame an indifferent first half to conquer Norwood by 20 points at Woodville Oval on Saturday.

The victory lifted the Eagles two games clear of fourth-placed South Adelaide with five rounds remaining.

This was one of those matches which definitely falls into that game-of-two-halves category. The Redlegs were firing for the opening two quarters and their four-goal lead flattered the home side. But the Eagles turned up the heat after half-time with an impressive team performance, taking command to keep the Redlegs goal-less in the second half.

''This is a massive win at home,'' Eagles coach Michael Godden said. "We'd lost our previous two at home and that hurts us as a footy club — we wanted to draw a line in the sand.

"What the players wanted out of today was to make sure we maintained a spot in the top three. They knew they had to lift their workrate and they did it.

"No one takes credit, everyone in the group lifted a little bit and the result came our way.''

That line in the sand kept getting washed away in the first quarter when the Redlegs had total control of the contest. They were disciplined with their structures and spread well to create options as they moved the ball skilfully with confidence.

The Redlegs defensive work, led by captain Kieran McGuinness and Jace Bode, was rock solid, shutting down the Eagles ball movement and sparking constant raids into attack where Michael Newton proved a powerful target.

The Eagles had the answers, however, in the third term. They grabbed the accendency around the ball and the influence of runners such as Luke Jarrad grew as the game lengthened.

Increased pressure from a more desperate Eagles outfit created Redlegs turnovers and the visitors, who rely heavily on controlling possession with plenty of numbers rushing forward, were punished on the scoreboard.

"They got on top in the middle in the second half and they ran a lot more than we did,'' Redlegs coach Ben Warren lamented. "We did not work hard enough.

"We were quite sloppy in the second half and were not able to string two possessions together a lot of the time. They are a good side — they are sitting third and are a talented team.''