DESPITE squandering a 44-point lead at the 13-minute mark of the final term, co-captain Jack Trengove says he will take a three-point win any day of the week, after the side held on for an absolute thriller over the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on Saturday night.

Although Trengove said the finish was far from ideal, he said there were more positives than negatives from Melbourne’s second win of the season. 

“We’ve got to take any win we can get at the moment, with the season we’ve had so far,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“It is disappointing that we couldn’t finish off in the last quarter, but it was really positive up until three quarter-time.

“We’ll take the win and hopefully keep moving forward from here.”

Trengove said the final 10 minutes of the match were remarkable. 

“It’s hard to describe. I was pretty scared there for a moment, but I knew we just had to keep cracking in the middle, especially, because they just kept coming out under no pressure, so that was the thing that really let us down,” he said.

“It was good that Wattsy (Jack Watts) could go back and Howey (Jeremy Howe) and take a few marks and that just controlled the game a bit.

“It’s something that we’re going to have to work on in the future – holding onto those leads when we get them.”

Trengove attributed the opposition’s turnaround to a revitalised midfield performance in the final term. 

“I think we’re fit enough to run out a game of footy. They just got a lot of momentum. Going into the game, we knew they were No.1 in the comp for centre bounce clearances and they’re really strong in the midfield and with [Will] Minson in the ruck, so that really came to the fore in the last quarter,” he said.

“Moving forward, we’ve just got to make sure we’re on top of that when they come at us and we’ll try to get the control back in our hands.”

Trengove said one of the most pleasing aspects of the night was the fact that Melbourne was able to create the play and dictate terms – until the final term.

“We just had them under the pump all night. One of the things that Craigy really emphasises is that when we have the ball in our hands, make them defend us,” he said.

“Throughout the start of this year, there has been a lot of us chasing our opponent, so we want to make sure that we defend really hard and when we get it in our hands, we really test them.

“We just took the game on and kicked more than them in the end.”

Trengove likened the match to round nine, 2010, when Melbourne defeated Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium by one point, after leading by 33 points at three quarter-time.

“There was one in Darwin, at the start of my career, against Port Adelaide, when they came hard in that last quarter and we just got over the line,” he said.

“They’re never ones that you want to play in – it’s a lot easier when you win comfortably, but at the end of the day, we got the four points and the boys are pretty happy.”

In terms of singing the theme song for just the second time this year – and the first time under new coach Neil Craig – Trengove said it meant everything in football terms.

“That’s what you play footy for – to sing the song like that with your mates,” he said.

“I think a few of the boys were a bit rusty and didn’t know how to react.

“Hopefully we’re just building from here on in and we’re moving forward.”