PORT ADELAIDE remains undefeated after pulling off a stunning comeback to bury Adelaide by nine points at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
Trailing their cross-town rivals by 31 points 10 minutes into the third term, the Power's Justin Westhoff triggered a remarkable revival with two goals in two minutes to kickstart the 17.16 (118) to 16.13 (109) win.
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Westhoff finished with four goals all kicked in the second half as Port booted nine of the last 12 goals of the game to bank its third consecutive win.
Captain Travis Boak, who won the Showdown Medal as best afield with three goals, and Chad Wingard (also three goals) were both vital.
Wingard kicked back-to-back goals to open the fourth term, including a miraculous dribble shot from the pocket, to wrestle back the momentum.
While Crow Richard Douglas kicked a steadier minutes later, an undisciplined free kick and 50m penalty given away by Bernie Vince led to another Wingard goal and left a lead Adelaide couldn't reel in.
It's a free kick that is likely to continue to reverberate for the Crows with Vince reported for the late and head high hit. Nathan van Berlo may be absent too after being subbed off after a knock to the knee.
Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson made a thinly veiled reference to the Vince hit after the match but said the stats suggested his team deserved to lose.
"[We] gave away too many undisciplined free kicks and 50m penalties," Sanderson said.
"It just felt like we got beaten inside the contest, they spread harder than us and uncontested ball was a major issue for us.
"We just made fundamental errors at crucial times - you shouldn't lose a game when you're 31 points up, but I said at half-time to the media - we shouldn't have been in front anyway."
Coach Ken Hinkley said the win could be defining for the Power.
"Hopefully that's something about the club, we want to be able to be quite resilient and keep going even though it's not going [well] for you," Hinkley said.
"We talked about expectation internally last week as a club, we don't shy away from the fact that we were playing GWS last week and by the ages and by the numbers we were expected to win.
"This week it was the other way around and we turned up and played."
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Kane Cornes was sensational in his 23rd Showdown for Port while Oliver Wines underlined the Power's exciting batch of young talent.
Adelaide spearhead Taylor Walker booted three majors while onballers Rory Sloane and Scott Thompson were solid performers.
Remarkably, the win leaves Port second on the ladder and Adelaide anchored in 11th place with just one win.
The Crows host Western Bulldogs next Sunday while Port travels to play Gold Coast on Saturday night.
PORT ADELAIDE 5.2 6.9 12.13 17.16 (118)
ADELAIDE 4.4 9.6 13.7 16.13 (109)
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Westhoff 4, Boak, Wingard 3, Wines, Monfries 2, Broadbent, Neade, Schulz
Adelaide: Walker 3, Douglas, Sloane, Jenkins 2, Dangerfield, Henderson, Reilly, Otten, Petrenko, Porplyzia, Johncock
BEST
Port Adelaide: Boak, Westhoff, Hartlett, Cornes, Wines, Wingard
Adelaide: Thompson, Sloane, Douglas, Dangerfield, Henderson, Walker
INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Nil
Adelaide: van Berlo (knee knock), Stewart (knee knock)
SUBSTITUTES
Port Adelaide: Kane Mitchell replaced Paul Stewart at half time
Adelaide: Bernie Vince replaced Nathan van Berlo in the third quarter
Reports: Bernie Vince (Adelaide) for charging Chad Wingard in the fourth quarter.
Umpires: Fleer, Schmitt, Hay
Official crowd: 40,707 at AAMI Stadium
