The Lions trailed by five goals heading into the final break, having managed to kick just five goals themselves across the first three quarters.
But the Lions’ self-belief never wavered, and with the aid of a strong breeze, they piled on nine goals to two to secure a remarkable victory – 14.4 (88) to 9.22 (76).
The Lions somehow finished two goals in front at the final siren, despite having 13 less scoring shots than the Sharks.
Reserves Coach Leigh Harding was thrilled with the team’s eighth straight win, but admittedly his team probably didn’t deserve the four points.
“We probably didn’t really deserve to win,” Harding told lions.com.au.
“We were outplayed for 80% of the game and their inaccuracy kept us in the game. In the first quarter, Southport went inside 50m 25 times and kicked 11 behinds.
“To our guys’ credit, all their shots were under pressure and from 30-50m out. So it wasn’t just luck that they missed their shots – our defensive pressure caused some of that.
“On the other hand, we went inside 50m three times and kicked a goal. We couldn’t believe that we were only down by five points at quarter time!”
The victory was even more impressive given the Lions were severely undermanned after half-time.
“We only had two players left on the bench – Todd Banfield was being held over for the senior game and Jesse O’Brien hurt himself in the second quarter and sat out for the rest of the game,” Harding said.
“We only made two rotations for the whole quarter – it was very ‘old school’. The boys dug deep and really came home with what I felt was a 7-8 goal breeze.”
Harding said the on-field leadership shown by Ryan Harwood played an important role in helping lift the team over the line.
“Ryan was terrific. Even throughout the third quarter, he was really vocal and doing his best to get the boys going,” Harding said.
“He wanted to take control of the game, so we threw him into the midfield in the final term and it turned the game.”
Harding also heaped praise on best-on-ground Jack Crisp and ruckman Billy Longer’s efforts.
“It was Jack’s best game (for the year) by a mile,” Harding said.
“I was very happy with his game, and watching the playback he was probably even better than I originally thought.
“He was just getting his positioning right in midfield, and showed that he could defend going the other way, which is very important in today’s game.
“I reckon he’s only played 60% of our games this year, even though he’s been fit the whole time, mainly because he’s either been carried-over as insurance for the senior game, or been the travelling emergency.”
“Billy (Longer’s) last quarter was phenomenal. He got his hands on the ball at stoppages, and there was a time he even chased a bloke down, got his hands on him and skewed the kick.
“He also took a Leo Barry-type mark taken at a critical moment of the game.
