North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson has refused to blame a contentious late umpiring decision for his side's heartbreaking one-point defeat to Collingwood, after Bailey Scott was denied a chance to kick a match-winning goal.
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Two Magpie players ran over the mark after Scott had marked the ball on the wing with 41 seconds left to play in a controversial finish to the gripping contest at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
The umpire in charge tried to call the players back before Scott quickly played on and pumped the ball deep into the Kangaroos' attacking zone.
Had a 50-metre penalty been paid, it would have given Scott a set shot well within scoring range - needing a goal to put North back in front.
Zac Fisher got one last chance to win the game for the Kangaroos, but his hurried snap in the dying seconds drifted wide, leading to an 18.11 (119) to 19.4 (118) defeat.
"There's decisions that the umps have to make right throughout the course of the game and you feel like they become more pivotal because they're right at the death knock in a close game," Clarkson said.
"But they're making hundreds of decisions a game, and the bottom line is it should never have got to that situation where we allowed Collingwood back into the contest."
The last-placed Kangaroos looked set to bank their second win of the season when they stunned Collingwood with eight first-quarter goals and led by 54 points early in the third term.
But the reigning premiers have shown on numerous occasions that they can never be counted out, and kicked 12 of the last 16 goals to run over the top of a tiring North Melbourne.
Clarkson described Collingwood's approach in the second half as like playing a game of "Russian roulette".
"They made it frenetic footy, took punts, downhill skied and were able to get the ball from one end of the ground to the other really quickly," he said.
"Collingwood have been the best side in the competition in the last three years at knowing when to go fast and when to slow it down.
"They made it real fast in the second half and we couldn't slow it down, unfortunately."
Clarkson was left with mixed emotions, proud of his side's ability to mix it with Collingwood, but ultimately disappointed in the result.
"We were right in that game right to the death knock," he said.
"Collingwood are a really experienced side and you think about the amount of games they've played in that type of atmosphere over the last two years.
"And they've got 30 or 40 games' experience across the board on our players.
"Despite the disappointment of the loss, the learning for our lads will be profound."
Kangaroos co-captain Jy Simpkin was a late withdrawal with a hamstring injury and faces a race against time to be passed fit to play against Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.
Australian Associated Press
