IT WAS like somebody had shrunk the MCG. Just an hour or so earlier, for Adelaide at least, the ground had seemed a wide, open plain in which it had acres to move, so swift was the Crows' start and so sluggish their Collingwood opposition.

Adelaide had jumped the Pies with the first three goals of the game, sweeping the ball from end to end with speed and style, and might have had even more but for a couple of spilled marks, Collingwood looking like it might be in for one of those days.

But then, as the second half began, Adelaide would be given no more room than a phone booth to work in, the Pies suitably chastened by their sloppy beginning, and applying their renowned physical pressure with the same sort of intensity that inspired their memorable win over Geelong earlier this season.

Every time a Crow touched the ball, he was set upon, shooting a handball sideways or backwards to get out of trouble, only to find a teammate immediately put in a similar predicament. And the proof was in the statistical pudding. Adelaide had 39 handballs in the first term and 45 in the second as it moved the ball directly forward. Under seige in the third, that figure soared to 70 out of 120 disposals for just one quarter of football.

That's pressure, and while, for a short time, Adelaide managed to survive the relentless tide, come the eight-minute mark, two isolated moments would prove definitive.

First, Magpie forward John Anthony, who'd kicked the final goal of the first half, booted the first of the third term from a strong mark, Collingwood taking the lead for the first time all afternoon. Barely a minute later, Adelaide heartbeat Brett Burton, who'd already kicked four goals and run rings around Nick Maxwell, collapsed in a screaming heap with a serious knee injury and was stretchered off.

Adelaide had already lost Jason Porplyzia to a shoulder injury just 12 minutes into the game.

It couldn't survive another loss of a key player — and combined, its leading two goalkickers. Little wonder it wouldn't kick another goal until after the 15-minute mark of the final term, by which time the deficit had blown out to five goals and the result certain.

No one typified the Magpie turnaround more than Paul Medhurst, subdued early and not a little accident-prone, but who worked himself into the game with his team and ended up cashing in with 5.5. Three of those were posters, so he could easily have finished with an eight-goal haul.

His teammates Rhyce Shaw and Travis Cloke had already worked themselves to a standstill in the first half and deserved their rewards of an easier time in the second — the more unheralded Shaw best on ground with 32 touches and an impressive 13 handball receives, Cloke the mobile tall with 12 contested possessions from his 19 and 11 strong marks.

By the end, and a tame finish, it was Adelaide that needed to be put out of its misery. Yet it hadn't been that long before that Collingwood seemed a more likely candidate for a mercy killing.

The nadir for the Pies appeared to have been reached midway through the second quarter when Medhurst marked strongly next to the goal square. It was a certain goal but, inexplicably, he played on, snapped over his shoulder, and missed. When the ball rebounded to the other end and into the arms of Crows youngster Bryce Campbell, the end for Collingwood seemed nigh.

A goal would have made it 27 points and, with the deflating effect of Medhurst's blunder, just about game, set and match.

But Campbell missed too, and the door remained ajar. Now Collingwood would charge through. Medhurst marked again, in contrast this time just inside the 50 and hard up against the boundary line. Of course, he slotted it. At the next centre bounce, Rhyce Shaw's clearance landed with Leon Davis, who handballed to Cloke, the big key forward smartly bouncing one through. Back to 10 points.

Burton responded just as quickly for the Crows, but the Magpies had the scent in their nostrils by now. Dale Thomas demonstrated again why he is one of the smarter smaller forwards going around when he tapped a bouncing ball up to himself, gathered and snapped another Collingwood goal over his left shoulder.

And when Anthony marked 25 metres out and converted with only two seconds of the quarter left, a gap that looked set to widen to an ugly margin only 10 minutes or so earlier was now back to just three points.

It was Collingwood's 11th straight second-quarter "win", and a revival that couldn't have been more timely.

The Magpies had worked their way back into the contest. Now, not for the only time this season, they were about to strangle their opponent to death.

COLLINGWOOD 2.5 7.8 10.11 15.16 (106)
ADELAIDE 4.2 8.5 8.7 11.8 (74)
GOALS: Collingwood: Medhurst 5, Anthony 2, R Shaw, Didak, Clarke, Cloke, Johnson, Thomas, Wood, Bryan. Adelaide: Burton 4, Douglas 2, Knights, Van Berlo, Maric, Tippett, Stevens.
BEST: Collingwood: Cloke, R Shaw, Medhurst, Clarke, H Shaw, Burns. Adelaide: Knights, Burton, Edwards, Thompson, Goodwin.
INJURIES Adelaide: Burton (knee), Porplyzia (shoulder).
UMPIRES Meredith, Ryan, McInerney.
CROWD 52,592 at the MCG.

TALKING POINT
The serious injuries to star Adelaide pair Brett Burton and Jason Porplyzia. The young midfielder-forward's popped shoulder just 12 minutes into the match was costly enough for the Crows, but the loss of the "Birdman" with what looked a shocking knee injury nine minutes into the third term was the fatal blow, Adelaide left without any forward substance at all.

THE UPSHOT
Collingwood will be within two points of a top-four spot if Hawthorn manages to beat Sydney at the MCG this afternoon. Adelaide's fourth loss in a row makes its position in the top eight even more precarious, the Crows facing a tough showdown with local rival Port Adelaide, then Sydney away the following week.

HOT AND COLD
One man fitted both categories yesterday, Collingwood small forward Paul Medhurst slow to start, and making a couple of blunders, the worst a silly goalsquare snap which missed when he should have had a set shot. But he more than redeemed himself with four second-half goals, and three "posters", to finish with 5.5, which might have been eight.