CARLTON coach Michael Voss was "gutted", "disappointed" but "proud" in the immediate aftermath of the Blues' nail-biting five-point loss to Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday night.
The Blues had led until the final 11 seconds of the game, when Kozzy Pickett snapped truly, pushing possible finals qualification out to next week.
"Bit of detail, the last couple of minutes we didn't quite get right. I guess it's easy to focus on the last two minutes. It leaves you gutted, it leaves you disappointed, but I'm also really proud at the same time," Voss said.
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"I thought our players were really brave right through the whole night. It hurts. It was an important game for us and we didn't quite get it right in the end.
"But as far as the whole game goes, I just thought the boys played really brave, played a really great style of footy and it's something we want to keep replicating.
"You find one extra mark, you win one extra contest. Some of the structure was there, but just some of the detail we need to be able to finish off the game, we just couldn't get that right in the last two minutes. As a result, that affected the game.
"It was a high-pressure game, it certainly had a finals feel about it, and we brought a brand of footy that stacks up. So I'd like for us to do that again."
Voss termed next week's match against Collingwood as "effectively an elimination final", and said Adam Cerra – who was a late withdrawal, having suffered adductor tightness after Thursday's training – was a chance to return.
Cerra's absence meant Sam Docherty was thrown into the midfield, where the ever-steady half-back flanker matched it with the likes of Clayton Oliver and Angus Brayshaw.
"We had to try some different things in the game. You walk away looking at that as a real positive, so we know he brings enormous run, he was able to get on the outside and he's a great leader.
"He had a great impact. I thought (Will) Setterfield also played through the middle as well, not just on the wing, he took a great match-up there. So we walked away with a couple of real positives.
"The mids were somewhat undermanned and were playing against a really good midfield, but I thought they boxed away and battled hard and I felt like our pressure around the footy for most of the night was really impressive."
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin was full of relief after his side capitalised on a close win and kept its top four hopes alive, having dropped one just last week to Collingwood.
"Footy's a great game, isn't it? It's full of emotion. It's the second week in a row we've played in a finals-like game, the tackle pressure, the intensity around the ball, the intensity of the game," Goodwin said.
"It was just a cracking game of footy, and our players have worked incredibly hard to continue to be in this situation and obviously tonight was an important night for us to win a close game of footy.
"We haven't done that all year, really, to win a real close game and show enormous character as a group. This is the type of win this group can embody and continue to use moving forward."
Jake Melksham was an unexpected star with four goals, matched up on a variety of taller opponents including Jacob Weitering and Mitch McGovern.
"He's a bit of a maligned player, but he's worked incredibly hard. His last month of footy for us, I think he's embodied a lot about our group," Goodwin said.
"We've got Jake Melksham who's come in and not only played a role for us – he's played on some good players in the last month: Darcy Moore, Aliir Aliir, and then tonight, Weitering and then McGovern – and then tonight, to impact the scoreboard. He's worked so hard to be a part of this team and he's getting what he deserves in the game.
"There's him, there's Jayden Hunt as well, who have had to fight and scrap their way into the team, and they're playing to win and they're playing their role incredibly well. I'm very proud of both those guys."
