MELBOURNE stuck with St Kilda for three quarters at Etihad Stadium before eventually losing by 35 point on Sunday afternoon.

The Saints lost key forward Justin Koschitzke before the match to an ankle injury and struggled to shrug off a gallant Melbourne side before a four goal to one final quarter sealed the 15.10 (100) to 9.11 (65) win.

Leigh Montagna was instrumental in the midfield, collecting 35 possessions and kicking two goals while Brendan Goddard - who started the game forward for the Saints - made his presence felt around the ground with 31 disposals.

For the Dees, Brad Green was the standout with 26 touches to add to his tally of two goals while Jordie McKenzie also impressed with 24 possessions and five tackles.

After knocking off flag favourites Geelong the previous week, the Saints started the game in ferocious fashion, kicking three goals in the first 12 minutes.

But Melbourne slowly found their feet, capitalising on a number of uncharacteristic St Kilda skill errors in the back-half to be down by just a point at the first break.

 The Saints extended the margin to 16 points at the half through a fortunate free kick to Stephen Milne and a 50m penalty rewarded to Goddard after he was crunched by Kyle Cheney in a marking contest.

The Demons' task didn’t get any easier after they lost influential defender Jack Grimes to a hamstring injury during the quarter.

The Saints on numerous occasions threatened to blow the game apart in the third quarter, but Melbourne refused to surrender with a Lynden Dunn long bomb and a classy snap from Jamie Bennell keeping the Dees within striking distance.

Any chances the Dees had of recording an upset win however were dashed with two goals to Lenny Hayes in the space of six minutes leading the Saints their 11th win of the season.

St Kilda    3.4    8.5    11.7    15.10 (100)
Melbourne    3.3    5.7    8.9    9.11 (65)

GOALS
St Kilda: Milne 3, Hayes 2, Schneider 2, Montagna 2, Goddard, Steven, Dal Santo, Stanley, Fisher, Jones
Melbourne: Green 2, Dunn 2, Watts, Jetta, Moloney, Bennell, Trengove

BEST
St Kilda: Montagna, Gilbert, Jones, Dal Santo, Milne, Goddard, Hayes, Gwilt
Melbourne: Green, Moloney, McKenzie, Trengove, Dunn, Bruce, Davey, Jamar

INJURIES
St Kilda: Koschitzke (ankle pre-game)
Melbourne: Grimes (hamstring)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Kennedy, Jeffery, Keating

Official crowd: 31,993 at Etihad Stadium