PORT Adelaide has gone down to Norwood in the opening round of its 2014 SANFL IGA campaign by 19 points at Norwood Oval on Thursday night.

Norwood opened the scoring with the first two goals of the match and went on to dominate the first term.

Port Adelaide was unable to halt Norwood's hard run out of the middle nor cope with the home side's relentless defensive pressure and went into the first break trailing by 20 points.

The likes of Aaron Young, Sam Gray, Steven Summerton and Tom Logan worked hard to get the Magpies back into the game and provided some run out of defence and through the middle of the ground.

Despite the fight back, Port Adelaide was unable to capitalise and the home side would not allow more than a two goal buffer throughout the match.

The reigning premiers pressured the Magpies into some costly turnovers and continued its strong run out of defence, responding quickly every time the Magpies registered a goal.

Left to face a 20-point deficit again at the main break, Port Adelaide needed to find a quick response early in the third quarter, but was unable to find clean air or effective disposal enough to work the ball into the forward 50.

The Magpies staged a minor comeback in the final term, out-scoring the home side three goals to one and pegging the margin back to 19 points, but the damage had already been done and despite only fielding eight players from last year's premiership outfit, Norwood ran out comfortable winners.