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Adelaide have pushed Port Adelaide all the way in the 50th Showdown but ultimately it was the Power that grabbed a four-point AFL victory on Saturday night.
The Power were expect to easily cruise past the besieged Crows, who had lost five of their past six games and were without former captain Taylor Walker who is serving a six-game suspension for making a racist comment at a SANFL game last month.
But in Showdown 50, ladder positions went out the window, as Adelaide led for most of the night before the Power kicked four straight goals across the third and fourth quarters to hit the front.
A Tom Lynch goal with three minutes on the clock gave the Crows late hope, but the Power hung on for a 7.13 (55) to 7.9 (51) victory in front of a reduced capacity crowd of 15,000 – in the first game in Adelaide since South Australia’s latest COVID-19 lockdown was lifted.
Fittingly, Power defender Aliir Aliir took a mark late in the game as the Crows made one final surge to cap off a sensational game, with his intercept marking a highlight.
The Power (15-5) have moved up to third place on the ladder, eight points clear of fifth-placed Sydney with two rounds remaining, while the Crows (6-14) are in 16th.
Despite going into the game as massive underdogs, the Crows were up for the fight early and led by a point at quarter-time.
It appeared only a matter of time before the Power would click into gear but Adelaide refused to wilt, gaining the upper hand in a scrappy contest on their way to a 30-11 advantage at the long break.
It was the Power’s sixth-lowest first half score since they entered the AFL in 1997.
Their intensity lifted in the third term, kicking three goals to two to narrow the deficit to 10 points at the final change.
A collision between Crows defenders Nick Murray and Will Hamill allowed Power forward Orazio Fantasia to kick the opening goal of the fourth quarter.
Hamill was taken off the ground on a stretcher with a suspected concussion.
Trailing since the 11-minute mark of the first quarter, the Power hit the lead when Sam Powell-Pepper snapped for goal midway through the last term.
Crows midfielder Brodie Smith was subbed out of the game at the end of the third quarter with a head knock sustained after crashing into the knee of Power ruckman Scott Lycett.
© AAP
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