LBB + DGS Women's Match Report: Semi Final 2 South vs North

Little Black Bike + Daily Grind Skate Women's Match Report

South Adelaide vs North Adelaide
Semi Final 2 - Thebarton Oval - 9/08/20

Goals: Hammond, Munyard
Best: Charlton, Campbell, Northcott, 
Injuries: Pratt (Leg)

Sunday sees South Adelaide suffer a narrow eight-point finals' loss at the hands of North Adelaide at Thebarton oval.

The highly anticipated match-up lived up to the hype as the league's two top sides proved to be once again very evenly matched, but unfortunately the low-scoring affair didn't go the Panthers way and they fell to a hard-fought 2.5 (17) to 3.7 (25).

It would be the undefeated Roosters that would start out as the better of the two sides, as North Adelaide booted the first major of the match just before the sixth minute mark.

But most the action of the opening term would end up coming from between the two sides' forward arcs as the immense pressure around the ball resulted in repeated stoppages.

Then during the dying stages of the quarter, Cheyenne Hammond (19 disposals) would provide the Panthers with a chance to attack deep following her chase down tackle.

Impressively, it would be Hammond herself who would end up finishing the play off with South Adelaide's first goal of the match.

South Adelaide would push for one more late goal, and with Hannah Munyard's (15 disposals) thumping kick inside 50 it looked possible but unfortunately, the siren sounded while the ball was in flight and it would roll just one metre shy of crossing the line.

While the scores were tied at quarter time, the opening term would prove very costly for Panthers as a knee injury forced the very reliable rebounder and winner of the 2019 Most Courageous award, Sam Pratt, to the sidelines.

With a defender down, South Adelaide's other problem came with containing star Adelaide Crow, Anne Hatchard who would go on to finish with a game high 36 disposals.

However, both Nikki Gore (17 disposals) and Nicole Campbell (four tackles) would prove to be very valuable in the blue and white.

The second quarter would see North threaten to take the game away early but thanks to the combined efforts of Lucy Northcott (12 disposals) and Lisa Whiteley (six marks), the Panthers were able to minimize the damage.

But with the Roosters booting the sole goal of the quarter, the Panthers headed into the main break facing a 1.1 (7) to 2.3 (15) deficit.

With plenty to do to catch up, Indy Tahau (four tackles) had an impressive run along the wing before picking out Munyard perfectly in the goal square to cut the deficit back to single digits.

With some newfound momentum, the Panthers looked lively but could not get any reward for it.

As the game began to slip back into a midfield battle some costly errors and frees allowed the Rooster to peg a goal back, killing the rest of South Adelaide's momentum.

Once again the Panthers came close to getting a late goal this time with a run and carry via Teah Charlton (22 disposals), but with Tahau's kick touched on the line, the Panthers still faced a 2.3 (15) to 3.4 (22) deficit at the final change.

North Adelaide came very close to sealing the game early into the final term, but both shots at goal struck the woodwork allowing the Panthers once last desperate attempt to steal the win.

But after repeated inside 50s, the Panthers could only manage two minors both of which were touched on the line.

Still trailing by just over the goal the Roosters were able to hold the game up, and the siren sounded to hand the Panthers the 2.5 (17) to 3.7 (25) defeat.

South Adelaide will now face West Adelaide for a spot in the Grand Final, following the Bloods finals' win over Norwood. 

Location and time will be confirmed shortly. 

Show the Girls that your are #SouthProud in 2020!