Having cursed his side for a fourth-quarter fade-out last weekend, Cairns City Lions player-coach Marc Harbrow could not have been happier to see how they responded on Saturday.
With their game against Centrals Trinity Beach in the balance, the home side really jumped out of the blocks in the final stanza.
They turned a six-point lead into an 18-point one almost immediately and even their poor execution could not stop the Lions getting their first win for the season 17.23 (125) to 14.12 (96).
Adam Gross (four goals), Michael Paul (four), Scott Hughes (three) and Duncan Seden (two) were all instrumental in the victory, but were all culprits when it came to kicking straight.
Thrilled to get their first victory for the season, Harbrow was aware it could have easily been different if the Dogs had taken their chances too.
"We had some shocking misses in there and should have really nailed the win earlier," he said.
"I'm just thankful that they missed a few in a row there too, that stopped any momentum."
But the coach, who could admire his side's hard work from the forward pocket in the final quarter after doing plenty of work in the midfield earlier, was happy with the effort after a string of near-misses in previous weeks.
"First thing I said after the loss to Saints last week was that I wanted a better fourth quarter and that's where we won it on the weekend," he said.
Both teams looked like they were trying to remember how to win as the margin wavered between one and three goals for a bulk of the match.
The Dogs, through the exciting Leroy Enosa (two goals) and well-built Aaron Spicer (four) threatened to dampen the spirits of the big crowd.
But they had only themselves to blame more often than not, chancing their arm down the centre on more than one occasion only to see the ball rebounded back into their own 50m arc and through the big sticks.
Teenager Tom Keygan was a rock in defence for the Lions, putting his body on the line more than once to defy the Dogs when they had numbers.
The victory sets the club up nicely for their next match, which will feature from AFL player Jared Brennan in action on Sunday against Manunda.
Last Modified on 06/11/2014 15:03