Tigers tie it up with Panthers

Glenelg’s Carl Nicholson kicks forward around South’s Abe Davis.

	1st	2nd	3rd	Final	Pts
Glenelg	1.3	5.5	6.6	10.10	70
South Adelaide	3.5	4.9	7.16	10.10	70

Glenelg Oval. Crowd 2,528

By ZAC MILBANK

Glenelg fell short of producing a remarkable comeback against South Adelaide at ACH Group Stadium, with the two sides sharing the premiership points in a dramatic draw.

Seemingly out of the hunt for the majority of the afternoon, the Tigers left their run very late after trailing by five goals at the final change.

Panthers Magarey Medallist Joel Cross extended that margin to a game high 35 points when he kicked truly five minutes into the fourth quarter.

The visitors looked set to bank their third win in succession to start the season until star Bays forward Josh Scott left the ground with a broken arm which is expected to sideline him for 6-8 weeks.

After a lengthy delay, the hosts seemed to spring to life as they booted three quick goals – two to Lachie Hosie – before South forward Sam Overall put the lead back out to 23 points 15 minutes into the final stanza.

Mark Stone’s men then had the next eight scoring shots to finish the pulsating encounter with former Magpie Luke Reynolds cutting the deficit to just three points with his first major 28 minutes in.

But three missed opportunities to Marlon Motlop, Liam McBean and Reynolds only leveled the scores rather than put the Tigers in front in the dying stages.

The Tigers had more of the ball overall, including 36 more marks, yet five fewer scoring shots than the wasteful Panthers, who booted an inaccurate 9.16 (70).

Glenelg wingman Carl Nicholson led the way on the stats sheet with 30 touches while defenders Chris Curran, Will Gould and Elliott Chalmers all pushed past the 20-disposal mark.

Hosie finished with a game-high four goals while McBean was unable to kick truly after bagging a career-high nine last round.

South, aiming to honour 200-gamer Bradley Crabb, had strong contributions from Abe Davis (28 disposals and nine clearances) while Overall bounced back from a sore groin the week before to boot a third of his team’s goals.

The Panthers will now host Adelaide on Easter Saturday while Glenelg will tackle Sturt in a Good Friday blockbuster at the Bay.

LEADING DISPOSALS –

Glenelg: Nicholson 30, Curran, Gould, Motlop 24, Bradley 23, Chalmers, Scharenberg 22, Close, McCarthy 18.

South: Davis 28, Haines 23, Rose, Schwarz 22, Liddle 20, Brown, Cross, Irra 19, Haren 18

GOALS –

Glenelg: Hosie 4, White 2, Gregson, Koster, Reynolds, Scott.

South: Overall 3, Cailotto, Fitt 2, Cross, Schwarz.

BEST -

Glenelg: C. Nicholson, J. White, A. Bradley, A. Joseph, M. Motlop

South: N. Schwarz, J. Haines, S. Overall, B. Haren, B. Crabb, A. Davis

MAGAREY MEDAL VOTES -

3. Davis(S)

2. Schwartz (S)

1. Gould (G)