SANFL 2006 ROUND 19: PORT
ADELAIDE v CENTRAL DISTRICT
Pies rise under pressure
By STEVE BARRETT
COMING off a week's rest and winless for over a month, Port Adelaide
knew the stakes were high when it faced reigning premier Central District at
Alberton on Saturday.
Defeat would have dropped the Magpies out of the five for the first
time in 2006 and be forced to climb back into contention from the bottom half
with little margin for error.
But on the flipside, victory over the Bulldogs would have all but
nailed down a finals berth for Port, with games over the next fortnight against
bottom sides
Port held on for a hard-fought, and richly-deserved
win, but errant goal-kicking almost cost the home side dearly.
The Magpies led by one point at the end of a tight first quarter,
before completely overwhelming Central in the second period. Port booted 6.10
to the Bulldogs paltry 1.2 for the quarter – a whopping 16 scoring shots to
three – to hold sway by 39 points at the main interval.
The pain of those missed opportunities was dulled when Luke Slattery
and Clive Waterhouse each goaled to open the third term.
Port had blown the margin out to 52 points six minutes into the third
quarter, despite woeful second quarter accuracy (6.10), and the result seemed a
foregone conclusion.
But Central finally awoke from its prolonged stupor to boot 7.8 to 0.4
over the next half-hour or so.
Midway through the fourth stanza, the Bulldogs appeared to have all the
momentum of a downhill freight train, having slashed the Magpies lead to just
one goal.
Besieged but unfazed, Port regrouped and slotted the last three goals,
through Peter Mann, Troy Butcher and best-on-ground Slattery, who fittingly
applied the final piece of icing to the victory cake just before time-on with
his fourth major.
Buoyant Magpies coach Tim Ginever was hopeful
the win would be “the catalyst for us to go on and play like
that for the rest of the season''.
Magpies coach Tim Ginever said he was
confident his charges would get over the line, even when the Dogs looked like
pipping Port at the post following the Magpies' earlier wastefulness.
“I thought they (Central) were in the game because of those lost
opportunities,'' he said.
“But I had a real calm in my stomach that I thought they (the players)
didn't want to lose today.
“I think they had a real steely side that they were going to win no
matter what.
“And when the right things were done at the right times, I was actually
more pleased.
“For us, a 10-goal win would be nice, but that was finals atmosphere
and finals pressure in the last quarter and you want to see who can stand up.
“I think we can have a very big impact (in the finals) if we can play
like that.
“For me, it was a nice way of seeing how we can play under pressure.
And I liked it.''