IT CAME as no surprise that Sunday’s twilight clash against the Saints was incredibly tight in the finish. 

For the Melbourne faithful, it was too close. It fell two points short on the wrong side of the ledger. And given the Demons had the game with 41 seconds left on the clock, it was a gut-wrenching loss.

Save for a Leigh Montagna goal with 19 seconds remaining, Melbourne would’ve been four wins after 11 rounds. Instead, St Kilda moved to four wins, when it could’ve so easily remained with three wins after Jeremy Howe’s goal at the 24-minute mark.

What the result reinforced was that the two sides are remarkably similar.

For example, both teams have defeated Gold Coast Suns and Western Bulldogs this year. The only other win the Saints have had this year – other than over Melbourne – was against the Brisbane Lions. The Demons have yet to play Brisbane, but are one rung higher on the ladder than the Lions. The Saints have yet to come up against Richmond, which Melbourne defeated in round four.

When assessing Melbourne and St Kilda’s lists at the start of 2015, there were just 33 games separating the two lists.

St Kilda had 2,390 games to its name at the start of the season to Melbourne’s 2,357. If the Saints just had the edge in matches, then the Demons just took the points for a slightly older list with 23 years, 223 days to St Kilda 23 years, 181.

On Sunday, however, St Kilda had the slight upper hand in matches and age experience with its 22 compared to Melbourne’s.

And although St Kilda had the edge with the bookies, it was never viewed as a one-sided contest entering the match.

No doubt, some silly errors (again) and a lack of communication led to Melbourne’s loss, but it was such a see-sawing contest that it really could’ve gone either way.

It was hardly a disaster to lose against St Kilda, a side that’s in a similar stage to Melbourne’s development and has been underrated by the vast football public. That’s no shame. It was always going to be a flip of the coin match – if looking at it from the outside.

No doubt the manner that Melbourne lost in the dying stages was poor. Quite simply, a lack of concentration and communication was what cost the red and blue in the end. And it was bitter pill to swallow. It was incredibly tough for any Melbourne supporter to endure.

But as coach Paul Roos said, if you took away the disappointment of the loss, it was still fair to say that improvement had still been made by his team – and St Kilda this year. 

“If we’d won the game, you’d probably say ‘yes [we have improved this year]’,” he said.

“And if we had have won, you would’ve probably asked [St Kilda coach] Richo (Alan Richardson) the same thing, [if his side has improved].

“We’re really disappointed we lost the game and we’ve got to make sure we execute things better and continue to work hard on a lot of different areas.”

Despite the frustration of the loss, Roos said it was important to look at the bigger picture of where the club is going, rather than a week by week scenario.

“That’s the job of the coaches to understand. The balance between the negative vision and the positive vision – that’s the most immediate thing,” he said.

“We’ve got to make sure that a lot of things are really positive and that the guys are learning, getting better every week and the ones that are not – [we’ve got to] make sure we’re educating them.

“Clearly it’s a destination of where we’re going, rather than a weekly [assessment].”

No doubt.

And maintaining that path remains the ultimate challenge. But one the club is committed to seeing through.