Paul Roos lamented Melbourne’s inability to defend a lead with extra players behind the ball after Melbourne suffered a last-gasp loss to St Kilda on Sunday.

The Demons looked set to end their 10-game losing streak against the Saints when Jeremy Howe gave his side a two-point lead with his goal with 41 seconds left to play, but they couldn’t stop Leigh Montagna kicking the match-winner with just 19 seconds on the clock.

A week after Roos was criticised for pointing the finger of blame at his players for aspects of their loss to Collingwood, the coach took responsibility for the heart-breaking defeat.

“We couldn’t get it done by putting a number behind the ball or two numbers or three numbers behind the ball,” Roos said.

“So obviously as a coach you take responsibility – if you can’t get it done you can’t get it done.

“Normally in those situations that’s what would happen.”

Melbourne now haven’t won a game at Etihad Stadium since round 19 of the 2007 season – a sequence of 21 matches.

“I don’t even think about the venue – it’s more about the game itself,” Roos said.

“In terms of the venue – that was brought up during the week – but I don’t think there’s ever a coach that says, ‘We haven’t won here for ‘x’amount of times’ or ‘We haven’t beaten this team’.

“It’s not like it’s an issue.” The loss leaves the Demons 15th on the ladder with a 3-8 record.

Despite the disappointment of the narrow defeat, Roos is still confident that his side is improving.

“Obviously it’s really disappointing to lose the game but there are certainly a lot of positives to come out of it,” he said.

“You’ve just got to be careful on the back of a disappointing loss. I think if you strip away the result – which is hard to do – ‘yes’ (we’ve improved) but having said that you lose the game.”