GEELONG coach Mark Thompson was pleased with his side’s ability to overcome Adelaide’s zonal pressure and record a 48-point victory at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

The Cats had to withstand an Adelaide fightback midway through the second term when the Crows kicked four unanswered goals, before the visitors ran out the game against a tiring home side.

Adelaide’s setup across the ground caused problems for the Cats, but they were able to adjust and create space with quick hands.

“We knew it was always going to be a challenge out here, Adelaide is a tough assignment. They play a little bit differently so it wasn’t our normal game,” Thompson said after the game.

“It wasn’t free flowing and tactically it was a pretty hard game to get through and to win by so much was a great effort.”

The Cats made just 40 entries into the forward 50 compared to Adelaide’s 48, but it was the end result that pleased Thompson.

“I thought we struggled a bit all night and over handballed. There are a lot of teams that have the zone and we seem to get through it,” he said.

“Once we did get through though we scored 21 goals and, while we didn’t get through it that well to start with, that’s because Adelaide did it well.

“We kept too many behind them and we talked about that with our midfielders for most of the night, but in the end to kick that many goals through that zone is pretty pleasing.”

Thompson refused to get too carried away with his side’s record number of handballs, despite realising the potential impact it has on the game.

The Cats tallied a massive 254 on the night but he said the opposition’s defensive style was responsible.

“We spend all week on it (the zone) and against some teams you have to play differently,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be a struggle and for us to win, we knew we couldn’t just roll out our normal game plan.”

Thompson was well aware of Gary Ablett’s influence in his 150th game. The onballer racked up a career best 46 possessions on top of kicking three goals in an outstanding personal performance.

And the coach had one word to sum up the midfield superstar’s performance – sensational.

“I think it was probably his best game. I’ve never really seen him have a commitment and an appetite to get the ball as often as he did,” Thompson said.

“It didn’t matter if there was one player or two players on him, he just knew when he was going to get the ball or when the ball was going to him and to get his hands up.”