PORT ADELAIDE has fallen to cross-town rivals Adelaide in an absolute nail-biter at Adelaide Oval in Round 20 of the AFL season on Saturday evening.

The Power led for much of the contest but the Crows came home strong to steal a three-point win after Josh Jenkins snapped a goal with two minutes remaining.

Eager to avenge the last-minute loss earlier in the season, the Crows came out firing and within ten minutes they had the first three goals of the contest, making the most of a breeze favouring the southern end.

Good pressure inside 50 by Steven Motlop led to a goal to Power skipper Travis Boak before second-gamer Kane Farrell imposed himself on the game.

He booted three of the next five goals in the opening term to keep the Power level at the first change.

His second and third came after involvement from Charlie Dixon and Jack Watts on each occasion.

Showers starting at quarter time made conditions tricky for both sides but Port settled best with Robbie Gray, who had been quiet until that point, slotting consecutive goals – the first after a one-handed mark under pressure.

Rory Sloane responded for Adelaide some ten minutes later, after the Crows had sprayed numerous opportunities but from the centre bounce, Chad Wingard claimed the clearance and a long goal as the ball bounced through from 50 metres.

Wingard had a second two minutes later after a wonderful pickup by Ollie Wines in the middle of the park.

The former received the hand-pass and ran towards 50, then unleashed a low shot on target.

The Crows had the last say when Taylor Walker had a chance to score after the half time siren but he couldn’t add to a goal from Hugh Greenwood minutes earlier, and the Power took a nine-point lead to the main break.

Kicking with the wind in the third term, Adelaide was wasteful, kicking two goals six, while Port’s sole major came through Boak running into an open goal after Dixon crashed a pack of three Crows players and Gray involved Farrell with a hand-pass.

Wingard and Gray added goals in the final term to go to four each for the game, as the match became tense.

Ollie Wines marked strongly in a pack but kicked his set shot from 25 metres out, out on the full and when Eddie Betts snuck out of a pack and snapped a goal, the margin was just four points with three minutes remaining.

Josh Jenkins snapped a goal – initially thought to have hit the post but cleared on score review – with two minutes remaining to put the Crows back in front by two points.

The margin increased to three with a behind after the siren as another exciting Showdown chapter was written.

Robbie Gray was awarded the Showdown medal for a record-breaking fourth time.

SCOREBOARD

PORT ADELAIDE            5.3      9.5        10.9     14.9   (93)             

ADELAIDE                        5.3      7.8        9.14   13.18  (96)              

Goals

Gray, Wingard 4, Farrell 3, Boak 2, Byrne-Jones         

Best

Wingard, Ryder, Houston, Gray, Polec, Ebert

Crowd

50,377 at Adelaide Oval