ANOTHER stellar performance by Abbey Dowrick propelled Port Adelaide to a tense four-point win against West Coast at Alberton Oval on Saturday.
 
A week after she claimed the Showdown Medal in the Power’s win against Adelaide, Dowrick was outstanding once again with a game-high 25 possessions and nine clearances.

POWER v EAGLES Full match coverage and stats

The home side led by two points at three-quarter time and clung to a slim lead throughout an enthralling final term, with neither side able to kick a goal, to score a gutsy win that improved its record to 4-5.

Ella Roberts was the prime mover for the Eagles, who were brave but couldn’t find a way to extend their four-game winning streak.

The Power had a few chances to seal the result in the nerve-wracking final minutes, but did well to lock the ball in its forward 50 to deny the visitors.

It was a fitting end to an engrossing duel.

Despite kicking into a stiff breeze in the first quarter, the Eagles created early scoring chances but let themselves down with poor kicking inside 50.

The Power was cleaner in attack with disposal efficiency inside 50 of 71.4 per cent to West Coast’s 20.

Ellie Hampson got on the end of a slick Port transition to poke home the only goal of the term, with the Eagles scoreless in the first quarter for the first time this season.

Shineah Goody stretched the margin to 13 points early in the second quarter, but her goal would be the home side’s only major of the term.
 
West Coast came charging back into the contest with two goals in a minute, including a nice snapped major from Bella Lewis after a superb piece of roving, to slice the margin to two points at the main break.
 
Following on from her second quarter goal, Keeley Skepper doubled her tally with a fine snap in the third term after Dowrick won a clearance and goaled on the run from close range to set up the tense last quarter.

Goody gets one up on Eagles star
Shineah Goody was assigned the tough task of curbing West Coast star Ella Roberts, and the Power midfielder enjoyed a bright patch in the second quarter. Goody went low and hard at the ball, earning a free kick for high contact that she converted from 15m out. However, Roberts got on top in the enthralling duel with a game-high 14 disposals and six clearances in the first half.

Window open to a tackle or two
Port Adelaide’s appetite for the contest was clear to see in a lopsided tackle count that the home side led 62-28 at three-quarter time. Piper Window led the charge with nine tackles, with Abbey Dowrick working hard at the coalface with six tackles and a game-high seven clearances at three-quarter time. The trend continued in the last quarter with the Power scoring the gutsy win on the back of a 74-36 tackle count.

Say what?
“I think those wins help you build confidence. But we've always spoken about how it's more what we can do in the journey and what we can take from every game. So, we're not so focused on the wins, although they are nice, it's more about what we're getting right and how we can continue to build on that momentum. We're not consistent enough yet, we're building towards that, and hopefully we can find some of that consistency as we continue to go through these games. Where that leads us? Nobody knows.” - Port Adelaide coach Glenn Strachan

“I thought early on we were just ever so slightly off with our hunt on the ball and our urgency to defend. I thought in the first quarter we just let them have a bit too much of the footy, and then to their credit, I thought they defended really well. A few times when we did get opportunities going forward, we got our effort around the ball right and we got chances to score, but I thought some of their one-on-one contests were really strong. So, it was a good challenge that (shows) we'll have to just keep improving.” - West Coast coach Daisy Pearce.

Up next
Port Adelaide is in action again on Saturday, 17 October, the Power taking on Brisbane at Brighton Homes Arena at 4:05pm local time, while the Eagles host Geelong at Sullivan Logistics Stadium at 4:15pm local time on Saturday.  

PORT ADELAIDE          1.3       2.4       3.5       3.8 (26)
WEST COAST               0.0       2.2       3.3       3.4 (22)

GOALS
Port Adelaide: Goody, Hampson, Dowrick
West Coast: Skepper 2, Lewis

BEST 
Port Adelaide: Dowrick, Germech, Scholz, Heads, Woodlands, Boag
West Coast: Roberts, Lewis, Thomas, Bushby, Britton, Rowley

INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Nil
West Coast: Nil

Crowd: 2,626 at Alberton Oval