From www.localfooty.com.au
Reported by Brendan Lucas
Full Story Click Here
COLLINGWOOD did what many thought impossible, ending Port Melbourne's dominant 28-game winning streak.
Since Round 1, 2011 the Borough had been unstoppable.
However, in blustery conditions at Victoria Park, the winds were changing.
Quick out of the blocks and spreading fast out of the stoppages, Collingwood was on top by quarter time.
Port coach Gary Ayres lamented his side's poor disposal and said his side had lacked physical endeavour.
He praised the Pies' efforts and admitted post-match that the streak "had to be broken sometime".
Consistency proved the key as the game wore on.
The Pies' hunger and aggressive tackling continued to lift.
Youngsters Kirk Ugle and Caolan Mooney led the goal kicking with three each and gave the Borough headaches.
Spearhead forward Dean Galea was well held by Pies' defender Nick Riddle and finished with three behinds.
Missed opportunities after the siren at half-time and three-quarter-time from Myles Pitt and Chris Cain summed up Port's day.
The Boroughs finished with 20 behinds.
At half time the Pies were dealt a blow with Jackson Paine unavailable to continue and down to three on the bench.
With a nine-point buffer heading into the third, end-to-end football continued.
But the Pies came out on top with a game-high six goals in the third term.
Lockyer's "lockdown football" was not an option in the final term as a huge pack mark in the square from Jarrod Witts followed by a goal brought the Pies' faithful to their feet.
With the nails securely in the coffin, Port tried to resurrect the match with back-to-back goals to Sam Pleming and Pitt.
Despite the Borough having a five-goal final term average in their past three outings, the Pies ran away with a strong 21-point win.
"I am obviously just proud of the way we went about it. You come up against the best side in the competition and we went out with a plan in a way we wanted to play and it worked," Lockyer said after the match.
"I thought their ability just to compete, the ability to tackle and chase when we had to was really good, and I thought our ball use was much better as well."
"What we have been asking for is consistency in our effort. We have dropped away in patches so the ability to play four quarters of footy was a real highlight."
Collingwood faces Bendigo at home this week, while Port Melbourne will compete in the Foxtel Cup against the Northern Territory Thunder.
Collingwood 5.3, 7.6, 13.8, 15.11 (101) def Port Melbourne 3.2, 5.9, 7.13, 10.20 (80)
GOALS: Collingwood: Ugle 3, Mooney 3, Stubbs 2, Paine, Boland, Farmer, Hahn, Ferraro, Ceglar, Gault.
Port Melbourne: O'Farrell 2, Cain 2, Breust, Galea, Pleming, Pitt, Wooffindin, Scipione
BEST: Collingwood: Young, Riddle, Williams, Pendlebury, Wallace, Ugle.
Port Melbourne: O'Farrell, Baird, Pleming, Dwyer, Noonan, Pitt
