Influential midfielder Richard Douglas has described Adelaide’s thrilling one-point win over North Melbourne as “one of the great” victories.

The Crows, who were behind on the scoreboard for all bar 63 seconds of the game, slipped to a 30-point deficit midway through the final quarter when Daniel Wells intercepted and capitalised on an errant kick-in.

But the visitors refused to give in.

Young star Sam Kerridge, who kept Adelaide in the contest with three goals in the third quarter, kicked consecutive goals to reduce the margin to 17 points and another to the in-form Douglas put the Crows within two-straight kicks.

Kerridge kicked his sixth goal as a result of a brilliant piece of play from defender Daniel Talia and North Melbourne’s lead was cut to six points.

Jared Petrenko had an opportunity to snatch the lead with a snap off the outside of his right foot. He missed, but it proved to be a very handy point.

With 20 seconds of game time remaining, the ball was in Petrenko’s vicinity again. Josh Jenkins and Kerridge combined to send Adelaide inside 50m. The ball sailed over the back of the pack, Petrenko took off towards goal and soccered it through to snatch a one-point lead – and victory for his team.

“I can’t remember ever playing in a game like that before,” Douglas told FIVEaa after the game.

“We always thought we could run over the top of them, but I didn’t expect it to happen in the last couple of seconds. The boys are pumped.

“From about halfway through the last quarter, Sando (coach Brenton Sanderson) sent a message down saying, ‘every time we get the ball, go hard forward and take the game on’. We weren’t sure how long was left, but we knew we could score quick and it panned out that way.

“It’s one of the great wins and it can really set our season up now.”

Petrenko was recalled to the side this week after spending the previous few weeks in the SANFL. Douglas said he was rapt the livewire forward was able to live out every footballer’s dream.

“It was great for Pup, in Indigenous Round, to kick the winner,” Douglas said.

“He’s pumped. He wasn’t sure if he just got selected this week because it was Indigenous Round, but we assured him it wasn’t. He’s a really important member of our team. To see him play well today and kick the winner, the boys are pumped for him.

“He’s one of those players you just love playing with.”

After conceding three of the first four goals of the game, Adelaide trailed by 39 points early in the second term. The Crows continued to fight but the Kangaroos always had an answer, holding a 2-3-goal buffer for most of the match.

The Roos are the best ‘starting’ team in the competition, having won eight of nine first quarters this season, but their final quarters have been filled with heartache. The one-point defeat at the hands of Adelaide was North’s fourth loss under five points this season.

“I don’t know what it was. Early in quarters, they jumped us and we came back hard late,” Douglas said.

“To our credit, we hung in there. We knew that if we were thereabouts at the end, we could run over the top of them because they’ve had close losses all year.

“We just had the better run and belief in the end, and that was the difference.”

One of Adelaide’s best performers against North Melbourne – and for the entire season – Douglas finished with 28 possessions (11 contested), a game-high 10 inside 50ms, nine marks, four tackles, three clearances, two goals and two goal assists in a monumental effort.

Douglas was also full of praise for Kerridge, who amassed 24 disposals and eight marks to go with six second-half goals.

“He’s a jet. Credit to him because he works hard,” Douglas said.

“He lives at Patty Dangerfield’s house and they call it the ‘high-performance centre’. Danger’s taken Sammy under his wing.

“To kick six goals is outstanding for a young fella. Surely, this week he gets the NAB Rising Star nomination because he was stiff a couple of weeks ago.”

Douglas also paid tribute to the Crows defence, including reliable pair Daniel Talia and Ben Rutten, who was under siege at different times in the first three quarters.

“The back six were really good. We know what we get from our defenders every week,” he said.

“As a midfield group, we probably let them down a bit in the first half. The ball got down there too quick and it’s hard to stop one-on-one. We tidied that up and they were outstanding all day.”