Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has lauded his players' resilience after a gritty four-point win over Collingwood which puts the Demons within sight of the AFL's top two.
The Dees overcame an early three-goal deficit and a slew of missed shots to snap the Magpies' eight-match winning streak with an 8.18 (66) to 9.8 (62) victory at the MCG on Monday.
Goodwin's men looked home until goals from Brody Mihocek and Nick Daicos deep into time-on during the last quarter dragged the Magpies back within a kick.
But there was no fairytale for the comeback kings this time as the Demons hung on in the desperate final exchanges.
"That's the character that you want to build within your footy team. It's the resilience that you want to see," Goodwin said.
"It wasn't our best start to a game. It looked like a Collingwood game early and it was our ability to arrest that and continue to play our way.
"There were a lot of missed opportunities for us.
"We had our chances to kick a pretty big score and to deal with that disappointment is stuff we've been working on.
"I thought our boys moved on from all those mistakes and opportunities that we coughed up and we were still really strong towards the end of the game."
Melbourne forward Bayley Fritsch kicked three goals in a low-scoring affair and Jack Viney was best afield with 32 disposals.
The tough midfielder tallied 19 contested possessions, 11 tackles, nine clearances and a goal, starring despite hurting his shoulder in a third-quarter collision with Beau McCreery.
Fittingly, Viney won the crucial last centre clearance as Collingwood threatened to pinch what would have been another remarkable comeback win, the likes of which have become a trademark under coach Craig McRae.
"To be honest, we would've stolen that one. We weren't the better team," McRae said.
"I thought they were much better in the key moments and the key contests on the day, but maybe a couple more minutes, you never know."
Forced out by the Magpies last year to ease salary cap pressure, Melbourne ruckman Brodie Grundy endured jeers from Collingwood fans and missed an early set shot at goal.
But the experienced big man made up for it with a third-quarter major as the Demons seized the ascendancy, and finished with 26 hit-outs and 13 disposals in an important contribution.
Angus Brayshaw (25 touches, six clearances), Christian Petracca (28, six) and Christian Salem (24, two) were among Melbourne's chief ball-winners and Steven May stood up in defence.
Collingwood's Patrick Lipinski kicked two goals in his return from a long-term shoulder injury as Tom Mitchell (30), Jack Crisp (28), Nick Daicos (27) and Taylor Adams (27) racked up plenty of touches.
Magpies skipper Darcy Moore played out the game despite requiring treatment on an ankle injury in the change room during the final term.
It was Melbourne's second win of the year against a current top-eight side, improving their season record to 9-4.
They sit two wins behind ladder leaders Collingwood and Port Adelaide (both 11-2) heading into their mid-season bye.
