The Serve

Saints still alive

St.Kilda kept its flickering finals hopes alive, with an exciting two point win over Adelaide at Telstra Dome.

The Saints conceded a two goal lead late in the final term, with two late behinds the difference.

St.Kilda made a dreadful start, trailing by 23 early in the second term, before their midfield began to click, led by Harvey and Hayes.

“Adelaide had it all over us in the first quarter”, said a typically laid back St.Kilda coach Ross Lyon.

The hosts dominated the second and third terms, but did their best to keep Adelaide in the game. Matt Maguire inexplicably gave away a 50m penalty, subsequently resulting in a goal. Harvey and Hayes also contributed to a Crows goal with fumles, while Justin Koschitzke got in the way of a Michael Rix mark, with Mark Ricciuto doing the rest.

“For us to improve our running - against a quality running team - on a fast surface was a positive sign for us”.

Adelaide drop to 8 and 7, although their percentage of 114 is significantly better than the teams surrounding them on the ladder. Coach Neil Craig was almost glowing in his praise of the opposition.

“We just lacked poise in the end. We had out chances. St.Kilda could argue the same. I think it needs to be recognized they had seven more scoring shots, so the reality is they were fairly more dominant than we have”

“I thought our fighting effort tonight was commendable. That’s not an issue”