ST KILDA somehow hung on to defeat Adelaide at Telstra Dome by two points last night, both winning the game and keeping its season alive by the same slender thread.

The Saints had it twice won in a thrilling final quarter, the first when a goal to Justin Koschitzke put them two goals clear halfway through and then again at the final siren.

In between, the Crows came back with goals to Brett Burton, who ran on to a desperate handball towards the goal line by Leigh Fisher, and then a goal from 40 metres on an angle by the deadly accurate Scott Welsh.

Welsh's goal levelled the scores and there were any number of match-winning acts performed in the last five minutes. Crucially, the only scores were a rushed behind to put St Kilda in front and then another behind by Fraser Gehrig right on the final siren.

Nick Riewoldt was sensational for the Saints, with 18 marks as he pushed himself all over the ground from centre half-forward. Nick Dal Santo around the packs and the veteran Robert Harvey were great as well.

Adelaide had Andrew McLeod playing with his usual polish across half-back and Welsh wound up with three goals from limited opportunities. But it needed a player to match St Kilda in the middle of the packs and could never quite find one.

St Kilda had led by five points with a quarter to go, keeping its nose in front through a thrilling third quarter in which each side added three goals. Harvey was brilliant throughout the term. He picked up possessions at will in his opening burst of 10 minutes, was benched, then came back strongly at the end.

A Riewoldt goal to open the quarter put the Saints nine points up and then Luke Ball, who had been an influence, missed a shot at an open goal. Ivan Maric got a goal for the Crows after Matt Maguire needlessly gave away a 50-metre penalty to bring him into range.

When Welsh got the next, the scores were level. But it was a game of fine margins and when Welsh dropped a mark on the lead that he should have taken, Jason Gram swept the ball away and exchanged handpasses with Shane Birss before Birss finally slotted the goal to give the Saints the lead again. Gehrig added his third and they were 12 points up.

Adelaide needed something out of the ordinary and it came when Brent Reilly pressured Harvey into spilling the ball on the boundary just over 50 metres out, kept the ball in play by centimetres and centred to Mark Ricciuto. His goal brought the margin back to five points and it was anyone's game with a quarter to play.

St Kilda had led by three points at half-time, turning the game — and the context in which it was played — on its head in the second quarter.

The Crows got the first goal of the term through Nathan Bock to go to a 23-point lead. Then the Saints added 3.4 to nothing to reduce the margin to a solitary point. Suddenly, it was St Kilda pressure that was causing precisely the sort of hesitation around the ball and turnovers that Adelaide had manufactured against the Saints up until then.

Dal Santo had several goes at getting clear in a centre-square pack before finally getting boot to ball. His kick was marked by Stephen Milne, who slipped his man and ran into an open goal. Then Gehrig kicked two within a couple of minutes, the second following a brilliant tackle by Ball on Michael Doughty.

Leigh Montagna won a free against Reilly with another tackle catching an Adelaide man in possession, but missed the shot. Maguire ran forward to mark but managed to have his shot touched by the man on the mark.

It seemed the Crows must steady at some stage, but Ricciuto, back on the ground after appearing to injure an ankle midway through the first quarter, missed one set shot and Burton slammed a second one into the goal post.

Now, St Kilda took the lead in bizarre fashion. Kris Massie, who had been run ragged by Riewoldt in the quarter, took possession a stride or two inside the boundary line and appeared to stumble across the line. Umpire Scott McLaren judged it deliberate out of bounds and Riewoldt goalled with his quick kick from the boundary.

The Saints led by three points, after appearing out of the game early in the second term.

Adelaide had jumped away better, leading by 17 points at the end of the first quarter, with its relentless pressure around the ball the difference.

Twice, Bock took the front position against Maguire, forcing the St Kilda defender into conceding free kicks as he tried to get back into the contest. Luckily for Maguire, Bock's conversion rate for two shots from within 25 metres of goal was only 50 per cent.

Chris Knights sidestepped his way into some space in a tight pack on the wing and kicked long to full-forward where Ken McGregor marked for another goal and, finally, pressure on Saint defender Sam Gilbert resulted in him being "pinged" for throwing the ball and Welsh got Adelaide's fifth.

The injury to Ricciuto was a worry for the Crows. He returned but looked proppy.