COMPOSURE by The Oracle

[Demonland 73,266]

It was the second time this year that Melbourne held the lead half way through the final quarter against Port Adelaide and yet it lost the game. Earlier in the year, it was a case of a young club simply running out of legs against fitter opposition but this time, it was a case of running out of composure when the time came to hold strong when a game was in the balance.

The other comparison with their earlier encounter at Alice Springs was the fact that the Demons leaked goals in conceding an early run on and then had to work hard to rein in the Power. It was hard enough doing that in Alice Springs but it was even more difficult at the "Portress".

Melbourne surprised its fans with the opening goal through Luke Tapscott but the Power answered and the game was evenly balanced until Dom Tyson broke through for his team's second goal and a six point lead. The next half hour's play was the low point for Melbourne with the home side kicking three consecutive majors on both sides of the first break to go to a 30-point lead.

Twenty minutes into the second quarter, Port had all the momentum, leading 7.4.46 to 2.4.16 and all thoughts of Melbourne fans were about where was the next goal going to come from and how could the damage best be controlled. Somehow, the Demons found the inspiration to take the game on and returned the favour to their hosts by kicking three goals on either side of the break. In the early part of the third quarter the goals came through speedsters Sam Blease and Jay Kennedy-Harris while Jack Watts, who had been quiet early but dominant in this term, goaled at the 16-minute mark to give his side the lead. The question that Melbourne fans were asking now was why had it taken so long for the team to start using some run and to take a game on in the way it was doing now?

It didn't last long as the game turned into an arm wrestle for the remainder of the term and it was almost inevitable that the Power would regain the ascendancy, which it did right on three quarter time with the aid of a fortunate free kick paid against Watts for interference - ironically because he had been crunched once or twice earlier in the game without gaining the benefit of a free.

The Demons refused to allow the game to slip and goals to Rohan Bail and Tyson's second restored the lead until a late forward thrust by Melbourne was cut off and Port Adelaide moved the ball virtually the length of the ground to where Port's Jay Schulz was paid a mark against a protesting Lynden Dunn to score the winning goal with less than two minutes remaining on the clock. The Demons last roll of the dice came to nothing when a clearing kick from Jack Grimes to Tyson who was in the clear and had support, went out of bounds on the full. Thirty seconds later, the game was over.

Dom Tyson with 32 touches was Melbourne's best and he was well backed up by skipper Nathan Jones who was subjected to some close treatment early in the game. It was a much better performance for the Demons but, having twice had chances against a top four club in Port Adelaide it still needs to learn how to beat the top sides.

Melbourne 2.3.15 5.5.35 8.7.55 10.9.69

Port Adelaide 4.4.28 7.6.48 8.9.57 10.12.72

Goals

Melbourne Tyson 2 Bail Blease Frawley Kennedy-Harris Pedersen Tapscott Vince Pedersen Watts

Port Adelaide Schulz Stewart Westhoff 2 Boak Pittard Wingard Young

Best

Melbourne Tyson Jamar N Jones Garland Watts Frawley

Port Adelaide Westhoff Gray Wines Cornes O'Shea Schulz Ebert

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

Injuries

Melbourne Tapscott (knee)

Port Adelaide Hartlett (ankle)

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Port Adelaide Nil

Umpires Jeff Dalgleish, Dean Margetts, David Harris

Crowd 37,894 at Adelaide Oval.