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AAP
AAP
Sophia McCaughan

Port Adelaide, Gold Coast share spoils in AFLW thriller

Port Adelaide's Gemma Houghton opened the scoring in a topsy-turvy AFLW thriller against Gold Coast. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)

Gold Coast have denied Port Adelaide their second win of the season in an AFLW thriller at Alberton Oval that ended in a 7.3 (45) to 7.3 (45) draw. 

The struggling Power went into the closing minutes of the match holding a healthy lead before two late goals snatched a share of the spoils for the Suns. 

Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell said her players were flat after going so close to a famous victory. 

"The girls worked so hard, it was a pretty gutsy effort," she said. 

"But a draw is a draw ... (although) you'd like to think we (would have) won that game.

"(But) we are all in this together, and we need to learn from some of those key moments." 

Battling tough conditions and wild winds, the Suns opened the game strongly, ending the first quarter 4.1 to the Power's 1.0, despite Port Adelaide's Gemma Houghton scoring the opening goal of the game within 30 seconds of the start.

Gold Coast's Niamh McLaughlin got boot behind ball shortly afterwards to level things up, and the dominant visitors added three more goals before the break.

But the tables turned in the second quarter, with Port Adelaide keeping Gold Coast scoreless and registering four goals of their own, including one from Ebony O'Dea for the second of her career.

"It was a good start with the breeze in the first quarter," Suns coach Cameron Joyce said. 

"We were pretty poor in our contest work in the second quarter, some of those missed tackles, they really made us pay."

The game flipped again after the main break, with the Power held scoreless by the rising Suns in a third quarter that ended with only a point separating the sides. 

A behind from Gold Coast's Tara Bohanna levelled things early in the fourth quarter, before goals from Gemma Houghton and Julia Teakle - her third of the match - gave the Power a solid lead heading into the final minutes.

But still the roller-coaster ride wasn't finished, the Suns hitting back  through Darcie Davies before Jacqueline Dupay levelled the scores with a dramatic late goal. 

"We just had to attack to win it back," a satisfied Joyce said. 

"Six minutes to go and two goals down, it looked pretty unlikely, but they were able to tie the game up."

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