FIRST SEMI-FINAL

NORWOOD 12.9 (81)
GLENELG 10.7 (67)

Leading by 23 points with 10 minutes remaining Glenelg seemed to have the match in it's keeping. But in a finish that coach Tony McGuinness likened to The Crows' 1993 AFL preliminary final loss to Essendon, Norwood kicked 6 goals to finish the 1999 season for Glenelg.
It is difficult to fully convey just how awful Glenelg was in the first half. Constant, unpressurised turnovers, ball overuse and totally indirect football had Tiger fans squirming in frustration. So badly did Glenelg play that it was suprising that they were still in the game at half time. That they were was due mainly to some excellent work by Glenelgs' defensive unit lead by Damien Gigney, filling in at full-back in the absence of the injured Paul Sherwood. With Golding a late withdrawl, Glenelg were forced to use Nicholas in the ruck and he stuggled to get his hand to the ball against Norwood's Jon Yerbury.
After half-time Glenelg started with Chad Cornes in the ruck and he was able to win some taps and get the ball to Glenelg's midfielders, especially Kelly, Chigwidden, Bode and Cook. But Glenelg could not find a winner up forward, and despite dominating the quarter, were only able to kick 3 goals for a 9 point lead at three quarter time.
Glenelg kicked the first 2 goals of the last quarter, the second a long bomb from outside 50 by Jameson that seemed to seal the game for the Tigers. But, with Cornes barely able to run, Yerbury was back in control of the ruck and the Norword midfielders streamed down field to give their forwards a chance. Pascoe, Bowman, Crouch and Warrior, so well held by their respective opponents up until that point, kicked 6 goals between themselves in 10 minutes to throw Glenelg from the 1999 finals race.
The match report and photographs are extracted from the "Advertiser."

LEGS IN LATE GOAL BLITZ

By Doug Robertson.
Norwood slammed on 6 goals in 10 minutes late in the last term in a super-tense knockout first semi-final at Football Park.
Norwood's amazing and gutsy comeback, in which it pulled back from a 23-point deficit from the 16-minute mark, earned it a crack at The Eagles in next week's preliminary final.
The Redlegs needed all their legendary fighting spirit to stop Glenelg's run which started when they dropped the high risk short kicking style from half-time.
Norwood had dominated play with clean skills and repeated, unforced turnovers.

A reluctance to call holding-the-ball decisions did not help Norwood and caused skipper Anthony Harvey to speak to umpire Ron Bettridge at the first break. But, once the Redleg's lone ruckman Jon Yerbury took command, its defence tightened - especially Stephen Pitt, Robert Neill and Troy Clements - and Lachlan Bowman provided a bustling target at half-forward, Norwood looked capable of taking over.
It went into it's attacking 50 metres 30 times to 20 in the first half but lead by just 9 points at the long break. The Tigers returned renewed with Simon Nicholas, who started in the ruck for the injured Matthew Golding, at half-forward, Alistair Burke and Brett Higgins on the wings and Martin Mellody and Paul Rouvray in defence.
The Tigers unleashed what looked to be a match-winning transformation and Norwood almost wilted. Nick Chigwidden, Matthew Kelly, Sudjai Cook - Glenelg's best against his former club - and Matthew Bode exploded when put into the ruck. The Tigers found fight. Their skills became precise, they had more of the ball and proyected the ball carriers. But, when Norwood's Scott Borlase tumbled through his only goal after Rouvray fumbled a loose ball, the cracks began to reappear. Glenelg kicked the next 2 goals but, by then, the Redlegs had started to run again and forwards Eugene Warrior and Andrew Pascoe at last looked dangerous. They kicked three goals in five minutes then Adam Crouch evaded Cook,s outstretched fingers to thread through a snap to give Norwood a 1 point lead 25 minutes into the term. Bowman, who had stitches in his chin and eyebrow at the last break, pulled in two big marks and goaled twice to crush Glenelg.

"(Glenelg) dominated in the third quarter but we probably just held them up enough to be in touch - we could have been out of the game at three-quarter-time," Redlegs coach Peter Rohde said. "What we have is the ability to score quickly. Had we had that 10 minute burst at the start we would have blown the game apart."
Glenelg's fightback was meritorious but it yielded when it needed to be strong and lost a game it should have won. Coach Tony McGuinness lamented the lack of a genuine ruckman and his side's digraceful use of the ball in the first half.
"I wouldn't have thought it was the pressure. We couldn't find targets up forward so we went short and the more we went short the more we overused the ball or selected the wrong target," he said. "In finals like that we need another key forward. We got shown up in the 2 finals."
Glenelg lost Simon Hele (shoulder) in the first term then Michael Raidis (hamstring), Justin Scripps (ankle) and Cornes (ankle) broke down.

BEST PLAYERS: Cook, Kelly, Gigney, Burke, Chigwidden, Carr Picioane.
SCORERS: Jameson 3.1, McEntee, Bode 1.1, Carr, Higgins, Bartlett, Cook, Howard1.0, Mellody, Chigwidden, Burke 0.1, rushed 0.1.
INJURIES: Golding (bruised ribs, ac strain, withdrew from selected squad), Hele (shoulder), Scripps (ankle sprain), Cornes (ankle sprain), Raidis (hanstring).
CROWD: 20,685.