Redlegs bounce back from a tough fortnight to beat South Adelaide Norwood's Matt Thomas tries to break a South Adelaide tackle in the match at Hickinbotham Oval. NORWOOD emerged from a testing fortnight and got back on the winner's list with a 25-point victory against South Adelaide. The fall-out from Anzac Day and a bad loss to North Adelaide had soured a solid start to the season but the win keeps the Redlegs safely nestled in the top three with a 5-2 record. Norwood isn't on the same level as North right now but perhaps shouldn't expect to be with players like Tim Webber, James Aish and Jace Bode on the sidelines. Coach Nathan Bassett's plan will be to win enough games to secure the double chance before peaking later in the season, when he'll hope to have a full squad available. The Redlegs are more than capable of doing this because even with a weakened line-up they're still a cut above the teams outside the top four. South produced a spirited effort after losing to the Eagles by 114 points in its previous game but ultimately continued its woeful record at Noarlunga in recent times. Playing four out of six at home to start the season would be a favourable draw for most sides, but not the Panthers. They've only won once in the past 12 months at Hickinbotham Oval and have dropped all four this season to slump to a 1-5 record. If you look back further, they've won 21 per cent at home since Fuller took the reins in 2010 compared to 34 per cent on the road. South lost in-form key defender Kyle Hartigan to gastro before the bounce, but Brad Crabb filled the void with a fine performance on Norwood spearhead Matt Panos. Ben Warren was another story. He kicked five goals against his former club, including two in the opening 10 minutes to steal the initiative. The Panthers' ruckmen dominated, Nick Liddle and Joel Cross were at their clearance-winning best and Josh Thewlis tidied up well at half back. But despite looking disorganised at times, the Redleg defenders didn't lose many one on one contests and slowly Bassett's men turned the screws further afield. Matt Thomas, Darren Pfeiffer and Kieran McGuinness all showed their quality as Norwood forced enough free kicks in the forward half to find some breathing space in the second term. Keeping the Redlegs to nine first half scoring shots was a good result for South in the wake of the huge totals they've conceded this season. But the only time an upset looked possible was when Panther key forwards Michael Wundke and Brett Eddy caught fire to reduce a five goal deficit to just eight points in an entertaining third quarter burst. Simon Phillips steadied the ship with a blinder from the boundary line and Norwood continued its streak of winning every final quarter this season. South is yet to win one. Best - Norwood: Warren, Thomas, Suckling, McGuinness, Pfeiffer, Dumont. South: McDonald, Liddle, Crabb, Cross, Thewlis, Daniel. Goals - Norwood: Warren 5, M. Evans 3, Phillips, Thomas 2, Zorzi, Fantasia. South: Eddy 3, McDonald, Wundke 2, Snook, Bass, Ah Chee. Umpires - Haussen, Deboy, Hosking