TWO halves could not be further apart for Port Adelaide, after Melbourne came back from a 23-point deficit to convincingly win Saturday's NAB Challenge game at Elizabeth Oval. 

The game was a scrap for the most part, but Melbourne's pressure around the ball allowed the visitors to break Port and manufacture a six-goal-to-none third quarter in its favour.

Selecting its best available team for the day against a semi-strength Melbourne's missing Nathan Jones and Bernie Vince, the Power were shorter odds to win in its home state.

A late rally in the final term was quashed quickly as the Dees put third consecutive goals on the board to snuff any resistance.

Of the few high points, Justin Westhoff kicked three goals, Matthew Broadbent a supergoal, and Travis Boak cracked 20 disposals, though he was the only Power player to do so. 

While the Power's ball movement in the first half was a positive, its low intensity second was criticised by Ken Hinkley.

"[Our] second half, we just didn't match Melbourne's intensity at all and they won the game clearly from that," Hinkley said.

"We delivered half a performance and that's not good enough.

"That's never, ever going to win you football at this level." 

Port Adelaide next travels to Etihad Stadium to play Richmond in its final NAB Challenge game on March 10. 

Earlier in the day Port Adelaide's SANFL team were convincing winners over the Adelaide Crows in a trial game at Alberton.

MATCH REVIEW

FIRST QUARTER

Port Adelaide's ball movement was strong from the outset with an early passage into attack setting up a goal to Justin Westhoff in the opening four minutes. 

Melbourne, in contrast, had a horror start. 

With the top two Demon midfielders Nathan Jones and Bernie Vince out of their side, Melbourne suffered the early loss of their next best in Angus Brayshaw and Dom Tyson taken off in separate incidents.

An excellent clearance out of the middle fed the ball to Jake Neade whose hard running forced two Demons to peel off in  order to intercept him. 

This allowed Neade to measure a handpass over the top to Westhoff lurking in the goal square, who proceeded to bag his second goal for the term. 

Port had doubled Melbourne's time in possession and when Matthew Broadbent launched a long bomb from 55 metres out, things were looking rough for the visitors. 

Melbourne steadied through goals to Garlett and Salem and brought the pace of the game out of the equation midway through the term. 

SECOND QUARTER

The second term was a fizzer, with Melbourne and the Power scrapping for possession as the heat and pressure from both sides began to take its toll. 

2016 Rising Star Jesse Hogan, held on a tight leash for much of the first term, broke way in attack to score his first of the match and close the margin. 

But Port had bright moments with Jay Schulz scoring midway through the term.

He was shortly joined by Matt White and Robbie Gray who both snapped important majors during time-on.

Cam Pedersen scored a late goal from a free kick directly in front to close the margin to 23 points at the long break. 

THIRD QUARTER

If the second term had been uninspiring, the third was unacceptable.

The Power failed to score a goal in the third term while Melbourne kicked six. 

Conceding twice as many frees and hammered by the Demons' pressure around the ball, the Power coughed up its lead with little resistance. 

Adding to Port's woe was that the goals were all kicked by individuals - Kent, Kennedy, Jones, Garlett, Harmes and VandenBerg - while the Power's discipline in the backlines also handed Melbourne easy shots on goal.

The one hope - a precise kick from Jasper Pittard to Robbie Gray - was snuffed out when the John Cahill Medallist played-on as the siren sounded. 

Port fans weren't happy at the break.

://twitter.com/PAFC">@PAFC— Andrea Ferguson (@ashlyferg) February 27, 2016

 

FOURTH QUARTER

The Power had certainly lost its spark and while its energy from the first bounce was up, it failed to hunt in numbers when the ball was up for grabs. 

Justin Westhoff bagged his third goal early in the quarter before Pedersen, VandenBerg and Kent scored consecutives to push the margin out to 27 points again. 

SCOREBOARD

PORT ADELAIDE               1.3.3         1.6.2         1.6.5         1.10.7 (76)
MELBOURNE                    0.2.2         0.4.3         0.10.5         0.15.5 (96)

PORTADELAIDEFC.COM.AU’S BEST
R. Gray, Boak, Pittard, S. Gray

GOALS
Westhoff 3, R. Gray, Boak 2, Schulz, White, Young

SUPERGOALS
Broadbent (Henley)

CROWD
4,908 at Elizabeth Oval