VICE captain Nathan Jones says he was devastated with Melbourne’s 13-point loss to the Gold Coast Suns at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

Jones said the Demons were quietly confident of overcoming the much-improved Suns entering the match, but he said the areas that they had addressed pre-match were once again issues.  

“I’m shattered - particularly after last week, we had a focus this week on trying to execute and bring the effort. It’s really disappointing. I think we put ourselves in a great position to win the game, but it was a real opportunity lost,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“All year, we’ve brought one or the other or none at all, and it’s really disappointing that we couldn’t get the job done. It’s tight games like that which make a difference. We were on the road and had a lot of momentum, but we couldn’t capitalise on the scoreboard and the boys are really gutted.”

Jones said the loss reflected Melbourne’s latter part of the 2013 season.  

“We just wasted opportunities, and it’s probably been a real story of the second half of the year. There’s no way you could question the effort of the boys – we all had a red hot crack, but our skill execution and errors are really hurting us at the moment,” he said.

“We saw that last week with GWS and we minimised them, but we missed our chances, particularly in the last quarter, and there were a couple of undisciplined acts.

“Some guys missed simple handballs and kicks. If they had have hit, we probably would’ve headed inside 50 and scored. Instead, it created a stoppage or a turnover.”

Jones said it was critical the Demons kept pushing towards the end of the season, rather than peter out.

“As Craigy (Neil Craig) said during the week in his press conference, we want to run through the line and suck as much [out of the season] as we can in the next four weeks and not leave anything to rest. There is no cue in the rack,” he said.

“The footy club and in particular the playing group needs to suck everything they can out of the last four weeks, and try and improve and kick start us with the right culture into the 2014 pre-season and the year.”

Jones, who suffered a broken nose as he collected a game high 29 disposals against the Suns, said it was simply “part and parcel when the boys have a crack”.

“I busted my nose and it probably improves my looks to be honest,” he said.

“The boys put their heads in the hole and they’re going to get hurt. We’re going to get hurt when we play a physical and competitive game.

“It’s just disappointing we couldn’t get the result.”