DEFENDER Ryan Burton has described last night’s loss to Adelaide as one that “will hurt for a while”, after Jordan Dawson’s kick after the siren left him feeling like a win had been stolen from Port Adelaide.
Burton’s Power outfit were in control for much of Showdown LI, leading by as much as 19 points during the final term, before Dawson condemned them to a 0-3 start to the season in dramatic style.
The 25-year-old says it is a difficult result to process in the immediate aftermath, but Port were left to rue an inability to execute during key moments in the closing stages.
“That hurts,” Burton told portadelaidefc.com.au post-match. “Especially after the siren (from) a free kick.
“It’s hard to process at the moment, but we cost ourselves in the last quarter. We were up by a few goals and missed some opportunities and then gave them opportunities and they took them.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow, but we’ll look at it next week and we have just got to get ready for Melbourne now.”
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Port opened up a solid lead early in the final stanza when key forward Todd Marshall sent his career-best fifth goal through in the opening minutes.
However, Adelaide went on to kick five of the next six major scores, with Burton conceding it came down to who was able to execute best when it mattered the most.
“Both teams had their share of opportunities in the last quarter,” he said. “They had some easy ones they walked out of stoppages and hit up a lead.
“Our pressure wasn’t good enough to be able to stop that. Then they finished their work and didn’t miss too many in that last quarter
“We have got to make our opportunities count down the other end and try and nullify them going the other way.”
While several shortcomings in the contest, both around the stoppages and in defence, are sure to come under scrutiny during the Showdown review, Burton takes some positives out of Port’s ability to get its scoring game going again early in the match.
“We had some really dominant moments throughout the game. We kicked three or four in a row at one stage and looked like we had the game on our terms; our ball movement looked really good.
“Our defence looked really strong, except for a few moments where we were poor at the contest and they got easy goals.
“That was the story of the night. At key moments we just weren’t strong enough in those contests around the ball and down back."
With a short turnaround and the prospect of the reigning premiers coming to town, there isn’t much time for Burton and his teammates to lick their wounds.
Having not gotten off to the start they were hoping in 2022, the dynamic backman says he and his teammates are motivated to come out firing next Thursday night.
“We are going to be angry. We are going to be ready to hunt them,” Burton said.
“0-3 is a poor start and our backs are against the wall so we’re going to need to give Melbourne everything we can give.”
