Match Report – Legs fall to reigning Premiers

NORWOOD has fallen narrowly to reigning Premiers Woodville West-Torrens by two points at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.

The Eagles held dominance in this fixture defeating the Redlegs in their three past meetings.

Woodville controlled the proceedings early, as they booted the first two goals of the game courtesy of Daniel Menzel and Connor Ballenden.

It took a while for Norwood to steady the Eagles momentum, however, they were able to fashion their first goal of the contest courtesy of defender Lochie Charlton, who profited off a 25-metre penalty.

The Redlegs started to find their groove moments after that goal, as they started to get on top of the clearances and win the contested ball.

Despite being unable to mount any scoreboard pressure, the Eagles were effective, as they kicked back-to-back goals late in the first term. With a strong lead, the Redlegs responded through Xavier Tranfa as he kicked a late goal to stem the Eagles momentum.

Daniel Menzel gave the Eagles the perfect start in the second term as he wheeled around on his right to extend the Eagles margin to 21-points.

Four minutes later, it was former Centrals forward Connor McLean who took a strong mark from 20 metres out in front of goal. He made no mistake of his set shot and then popped up minutes later to kick Norwood’s second.

The Legs were in control of the contest as their midfielders of Jacob Kennerley, Nik Rokahr and Matthew Nunn went to work in the middle.

Former Cat Ben Jarvis popped up midway through the second term and kicked his first of the game before Sam Morris brought the Redlegs within touching distance kicking a 45-metre goal to bring the crowd to life.

The deficit was only four points heading into the main break.

The third term was a tale of two halves as the Eagles dominated the early going, putting on three of the first four goals before Norwood hit back with forward Cam Taheny taking a strong chest mark and making no mistake of his opportunity.

In the 25^th minute of the third term, Tristan Binder successfully executed his set shot to again reduce the margin to only four points, making the last quarter a real spectacle for the crowd.

Norwood managed to boot the first of the last quarter, as Cam Taheny kicked truly from a tough angle to extend Norwood’s lead to seven points.

Eagles goalsneak Zane Williams restored the lead for the visitors with his simple set shot 25m out before teammate Jake Comitogianni looked to have kicked the sealer in the 18th minute after capping off a nice coast-to-coast play.

But the Redlegs – who won the inside 50m count 59 to 39 – wouldn’t be denied when Ben Jarvis bounced his snap-through approaching the 25-minute mark.

Jade Rawlings’ men – who also had three more scoring shots and 11 more marks – had the ball bottled up in the scoreboard pocket only to hear the final siren sound in agonising fashion.

Michael Taylor Medallist Nik Rokahr (29 disposals) and captain Matthew Nunn (27 disposals) found plenty of the ball for the Legs while Harry Boyd posted another strong game in the ruck with 19 disposals, seven tackles, six clearances and a mammoth 46 hit outs.

Former Bulldog Connor McLean looked threatening at times in the air while booting two for Norwood while Jarvis, Taheny and Xavier Tranfa kicked a pair each.

SCOREBOARD:

NORWOOD: 2.1 6.4 9.7 11.15 (81)

EAGLES: 4.7. 6.8 9.9 12.11 (83)

GOALS: McLean 2, Jarvis 2, Taheny 2, Tranfa 2, Binder, Charlton, Morris

BEST: Heard, Rokahr, Nunn, Boyd, Tranfa, Hamilton, Kennerley

Photo Credit: Hannah Howard