South Adelaide rose as victors at home against Croydon Kings, in Round 8 of the PlayStation 4 National Premier League South Australia.

The Panthers proved, yet again, that O'Sullivans Beach Sports and Community Centre is a hard place to come for visitors—regardless of the opponent's league position.

"I'm very happy that we secured the three points—it feels like we have found our mojo again, and we seem to have found our rhythm, especially in the backline, where we worked like a unit.

"[At home] I think it's a mental side to our game, where we pick up our intensity and effort when we have a good home crowd.

"Every team in the league wants to make their ground a fortress, and that's no different for us," says Addison Rogers, Goalkeeper of South Adelaide.

The display from South was stoic, particularly in defense where they maintained a solid backline that was impenetrable, which rewarded Rogers with a welcome clean-sheet.

"It's been a long time coming and of course, I love a clean-sheet—the lads in front of me deserve credit for the clean-sheet as well.

"The only good opportunity that I felt threatened by came in the first half, and after that I felt that the boys were switched on for the full whole 90."

While they maintained order at the back, by holding Croydon's front three at bay, South's high flying front runners were able to sneak two goals, on the other side of halftime.

"The boys were enjoying themselves up there, and they produced a lot of promising stuff.

"The goals that they scored were well executed."

For most of the game, South applied a lot of pressure on Croydon's midfield and backline, which eventually produced a few instances where South were able to squeeze through the lines.

"I felt we held possession for periods of the game and somewhat dominated, but when we applied pressure to Croydon, I think we pressed well as a unit, which made it easier to keep the pressure up all game.

"[In the middle] it helped that even when we made our substitutions, our midfield didn’t change in regards to the players willingness to fight.

"The boys coming on knew that this is a crucial area to dominate."

Three points later, and South Adelaide are sitting prettier than ever at tenth—surprisingly above an underperforming squad at MetroStars—but still in the bottom three.

"It just proves how tight the table is this season—one result can put you down, and one result can take you back up.

"However, I'd prefer to keep going up.

"It's early days, but it's a good feeling when you can see yourself above clubs that have been that have been title contenders in previous years, but, as they proved, they can win games—so, we need to ensure that we keep winning and make sure we can't be caught."

At tenth they are consequently just a win away from clearing the relegation zone, and well within touching distance of seventh place—if all results go their way come next week that is.

"… A good run will put us in a very nice position … we will be sure to put in a good week on the track this week, and come Saturday, we will be more than ready for a good, hard game.

"Ideally, we would like to be around the middle of the table, challenging for finals."

Croydon, unfortunately find themselves in an awkward position on the table, at eighth place with ten points, which is now nine points from top.

“We had five first team starters out of the game, so that made it difficult for us from the start of the game.

"When you take five key players out, the chemistry is always going to be a little unsettled, and we were [unsettled] throughout the game.

"In saying that, we brought in five first team starters, and they did well, but it obviously wasn't enough to win the game.

"We're disappointed at the end of the day," says Mark Brazzale, Head Coach of Croydon Kings.

The loss is all the more disappointing because the teams above them, which were in reach—West Torrens Birkalla, Adelaide Blue Eagles, and Adelaide United—had poor matches.

Croydon found it particularly difficult to adapt to the size of the field, as well as the close quarters of the boundary, and Brazzale says, "it's definitely not what we're used to".

"It's a very small ground … it's a tight pitch and it's difficult, but with the squad that we had on the park, we just weren't good enough, so, all credit to South Adelaide."

Next week will be an opportunity for Croydon to make up some needed ground on the top four, but, their opponent—Metro Stars—is in an even more desperate position.

"Metro's always a good team … they're in the same boat as us—they've had a few injuries in the last couple of weeks, so, they're probably not travelling the best, but they're always a difficult team for us to play against, and it's going to be a big game for both clubs next week."

Written by Christian Fleetwood