PORT ADELAIDE SANFL coach Matthew Lokan said it was ‘disappointing to lose’ after his side went down by 16 points to Norwood on Friday night.
The youthful Magpies clawed back from five goals down to trail by just 13 points at the final change before succumbing to the Redlegs eventually.
“I think that's two weeks in a row that we've actually played some decent footy,” Lokan said.
“Sometimes they hurt more than the ones where we actually don't play very well.
“We're doing a lot of things right, but at the end of the day, when you turn the ball over and drop and fumble the ball around stoppage, drop easy marks, miss easy goals, it's the result in the game.
“They were able to capitalise, we weren't, whether that was around the contest, everyone tends to focus on the goalkicking but the dropped mark or the fumble around the contest, or the handball to the ground tends to be as important as those missed shots on goal.
“I think the thing that's really clear for us is that we're doing a lot of things right, we were extremely young tonight.”
The Magpies had only eight AFL-listed players in the squad, with only three having made their debut at the top level – Dylan Williams, Sam Skinner and Kane Farrell.
“I think that's the youngest side I've coached in my five years here, and we saw some good growth from those guys,” Lokan said.
“They get opportunities to be able to play around the ball.
“I thought for Taj Schofield it was probably the best game he's played since he's been at the footy club, Jase Burgoyne got plenty of the ball off half back and even guys like Hugh Jackson, who's played three games, came in and showed that he's gonna be a good player in a few years’ time.”
With lead ruckman Sam Hayes promoted to the AFL side to tackle Carlton, and also missing Dante Visentini due to health and safety protocols, Port had a rotation of talls in Luke Surman, Sam Skinner and Ollie Lord through the ruck on Friday night.
The makeshift Magpies won the hit-outs 35-33 and the midfield drew level in the clearance numbers (32-all), which pleased coach Lokan.
“We had Surman, Sam Skinner and Ollie Lord all in the ruck and those guys really competed well, I think we won clearance where we lost them by about 20 last week,” he said.
“Those guys gave us first look, the guys around the ball had a real crack.
“We were really young in there, I think once bounce we had Schofield, Jackson and Nick Moore in there.”
Surman had 23 hitouts, while Lord had eight and Skinner three, while Matt Appleton, Ethan Moore and Lord had five clearances each.
Port also revealed a debutant on Friday night against Norwood with Mackenzie Nield pulling on the famous jumper for the first time.
Nield, a former West Adelaide junior, last played at amateur level for PHOS Camden, but has signed with Balaklava in the Adelaide Plains Football League.
The APFL doesn’t get underway until April 23 and coach Matthew Lokan commended him for his instant impact, where he had nine touches, three tackles and four inside 50s.
“He's lively, he probably got himself in positions to kick two or three goals,” he said.
“He hasn't played much footy this year because he's local club hasn't started, so to come in and have an impact on the game was really important for us and he showed that he can play the level.”
The Magpies take on Sturt on Sunday at Alberton Oval and Lokan is hopeful of getting the side’s first win.
“You don't want to come to Norwood and lose and the rivalry and going 0-3, we're well aware of that at the end of the day, you've got to be playing the right way to be in games and we're certainly doing that at the moment,” he said.
