PORT ADELAIDE coach Mark Williams was left lamenting the one that got away after his side squandered several opportunities to snatch an unlikely win in Thursday night’s grand final rematch against Geelong.

Port Adelaide trailed by 37 points late in the second quarter, but fought back to outscore the Cats 8.11 to 5.7 in the second half.

Daniel Motlop, Shaun Burgoyne and Chad Cornes all had chances to bring the Power within a kick of the reigning premiers, but all faltered, leaving Port Adelaide nine points in arrears at the final siren.

“In the second half we pretty much dominated, but missed too many shots on goal,” Williams said after the game.

“Some of them were gimmes and we also gave a lot of free kicks away again, which was disturbing, especially around the stoppages early in the game.

“Geelong missed a lot of shots on goal early too, so they probably kept us in the game, but in the end they were out on their feet, we were running over them, we had shots on goals and we should’ve won the game.”

Geelong looked by far the better side in the first half, but after a few words from Williams at half time and a restructured forward line the Power emerged a completely different side in the second half.

“The players were disappointing themselves in the first half,” Williams said. “A lot of the work we’d done with stoppages and hunting the ball, you couldn’t see. I just encouraged them to show what they could do.

“I thought we battled on pretty well against a pretty good side. In the end I thought we had the chance to win and everyone is disappointed that we didn’t, but it was much better effort in the second half.

“Geelong is a bloody good side. They are going to be the measuring stick all year and we fell short, but not by much. I was encouraged by the efforts of the guys and that everyone kept at it.

“Well get a few days’ rest now then get back into it and look forward to playing Sydney in Sydney, which is going to be another tough game.”