PORT ADELAIDE coach Matthew Lokan said it was disappointing to lose a hard-fought battle against Glenelg on Saturday night.

The Magpies came surging late in the third quarter before going down by 10 points, and Lokan said while the players competed well, it wasn’t the result they were after.

“It's obviously really disappointing to lose,” he said.

“Glenelg are a really good side, credit to our guys I thought we competed really well for four quarters, but obviously didn't get the result we're after.

“We're starting to play more consistent, it's obviously not consistent enough to be able to get the result we're after.

“I think that's the balance for us, we got to continue to play in this manner.

“But we've just got to be able to do it for longer I think if we can do that, we've certainly shown that we can compete with the best sides we just haven't been able to win.”

Sam Powell-Pepper was Port’s best with a dominant performance; 34 touches, eight clearances, eight tackles and a goal, and Lokan was delighted for him.

“I thought he was fantastic,” he said.

“I think you know he got back his running game, his ability to be able to cover the ground and compete in the contest is always a high level but I thought he was great, one of our best players.”

Also among the best were a number of the contracted players, with Lokan highlighting Jake Weidemann’s performance.

“I think that's the key. We are starting to gel, they key is to be able to do it for longer,” he said.

“Jake Weidemann did a fantastic job on Chris Curran…Chris is a fantastic intercept mark and only had two marks for the game.

“We're starting to take some small steps, but we got to take some big steps soon to be able to get the result we're after.”

Port finished the game without Trent Burgoyne and Tom Rockliff, with the latter managed.

“We're all pretty good, Trent Burgoyne hurt his hamstring the first half, but besides that we're pretty healthy,” Lokan said.

“It was probably one of the reasons why we lost the game is that we probably weren't able to convert in the front half from our ground level ball.

“I thought our key forwards did a really good job of bringing the ball to ground, perhaps just lacked the guys like Trent and even Boyd Woodcock at ground level to be able to convert those opportunities.

“It's disappointing for Trent and hopefully it's not too bad and we'll assess that during the week and hopefully.”

Port Adelaide next takes on the Eagles on Sunday at Alberton Oval.