IT was a case of so close but so far for Port Adelaide as it fell by two points to Melbourne in the second round of the 2013 NAB Cup in Renmark.

The Power controlled play late in the fourth quarter with opportunities for Jarrad Redden and Kane Mitchell to seal the winner, but ultimately fell short in a nailbiter for local Riverland supporters.

The result puts Port Adelaide's hopes of making the NAB Cup final out of reach with two wins and two losses making it impossible to reach the pre-season ender in two weeks time.

A disappointing start to the game saw the Power play catch up to the Demons all day with Melbourne never headed thanks to dominant performances up forward from James Sellar (five goals) and Aaron Davey (three).

It was symptomatic of lapses in Port's defensive structure which saw the pair find open space and, at times, open goals.

But the Power was led by strong performances from the likes of Hamish Hartlett and Ollie Wines who combined to provide excellent clearance work through the middle of the ground and up forward.

Hartlett was particularly damaging for the Power with his two goals and one super goal helping to keep the local side in touch.

Wines had ten clearances while Daniel Stewart also found the goals three times.

The Power was chiefly let down by its inability to effectively use the ball through the middle and working forward. Turnovers proved costly and allowed Melbourne to score several critical goals.

Despite an inefficient and ineffective opening half, Port came out in the third quarter a completely different team with the playing group's more level headed approach in assessing and choosing prime targets allowing it to claw back Melbourne's lead.

Aaron Young, Paul Stewart and Lewis Stevenson all contributed through the second half, while the latter's performance combined with some impressive showings from youngsters Sam Colquhoun and Jake Neade offer Power fans hope of better depth in 2013.

Despite the tantalisingly close finish, senior coach Ken Hinkley lamented his young team's inability to remain cool under Melbourne's pressure throughout the game.

"When pressure comes sometimes you just bail out," said Hinkley.

"We were probably our own worst enemy - we overused the ball too much - and then we got going a bit and ran out of time."

Hinkley revealed the young Power side that took the field was symptomatic of the hot conditons at the ground and the short six day turnaround to the club's next game against West Coast in Alice Springs.

Despite the loss, he was pleased with the performance of some of those younger players ahead of a more senior team next week.

"We wanted to see some more younger players and took this opportunity (to do so)," he said.

"Next week we'll be trying to bring our best players in and play our most experienced side that we can get on the park."

portadelaidefc.com.au will have a full match replay available on Monday combined with highlights and analysis.

Scoreboard
Melbourne 0.12.6 (78) def
Port Adelaide 1.10.7 (76)

Best: Hartlett, Wines, Moore, Mitchell, Stevenson
Goals: D. Stewart 3, Hartlett 2, Newton, Neade, Wingard, Young, Colquhoun
Supergoals: Hartlett 1