TRENT Dumont was caught on the bench in the dying minutes of Port Adelaide’s thrilling one point win against the Saints, unable to get rotated back on the ground with the influx of St Kilda forward entries.
Despite describing it as “the worst feeling in the world” unable to help his teammates, Dumont was thrilled his side was able to get reward for its efforts.
It was a tight, scrappy contest all night in wet, slippery conditions at Cazalys Stadium, building to a tense finish in which scores were levelled three times during the last quarter.
It was Robbie Gray’s minor score from deep in the pocket with 31 seconds left on the clock that secured the one-point win.
Dumont felt the confidence within the team has been building after a tough start to the season and was sure the wins would start coming.
“It was pretty wet and a bit of a grind, the Saints are going really well and we haven’t really been able to get the wins on the board lately,” Dumont said.
“We feel like we have been building something pretty special and have had full confidence we could get the wins.
“Tonight it came really late, but it was awesome to get it and the excitement from the group was massive.”
After notching just the one goal to half time, Port Adelaide worked its way back into the game on the scoreboard, kicking three goals to none in the third term to close the Saints early lead.
Dumont lauded the midfield group for getting on top around the contest in the second half to help control the game.
“The whole game was pretty tight, they jumped us early, that is something we need to look at, our first quarters,” Dumont reflected.
“I felt our midfield was able to get on top and our defenders were really strong all night, from that we were able to control a fair bit of the game, we just couldn’t get scores on the board.
“It was a bit of a weird night like that but they are the tough hard games you need to win some times and just grind them out right to the end.
“We knew it was going to be a contest the whole way through.
“We probably didn’t get the reward that we wanted (on the scoreboard) but we felt like we controlled a fair bit of the game.”
After a 0-5 start, Port Adelaide has now secured back-to-back wins which Dumont says gives the team a good confidence boost going into its upcoming challenge against the Bulldogs on Friday night.
“We will enjoy this time together and obviously go back and review and build for the bulldogs on Friday,” Dumont said.
“It’s a short break but we are confident we can keep the ball rolling and get our season back on track.”
