The Brisbane Lions Reserves lost their first game in more than two months against the Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

The visitors led for all but the closing five minutes as the Suns kicked five goals to one in the last quarter to prevail by 8 points.

The Lions remain on top of the NEAFL standings with four weeks remaining until the finals, while the Gold Coast are locked in a four-way battle for one of two spots in the top five.

Lions defender Steve Wrigley was bitterly disappointed with the loss, but couldn’t fault his charges’ commitment.

“It’s definitely a letdown to get rolled when we were so far up,” Wrigley said.

“When you’re four goals in front with eight minutes to go you shouldn’t lose, but our effort was massive in that last quarter.

“It wasn’t an intent issue in the last quarter; there were just a few little things which could’ve gone differently.”

The Lions started well, and led by as much as 24 points early on, before two late Suns goals (including an Andrew McQualter major after the siren) cut the margin to 19 at the first break.

Josh Green and Jordan Lisle were standouts for the Lions all day, and they kick-started their teams’ second quarter with two individual flashes of brilliance.

First Green scythed between several defenders, took a bounce, and curled through a left-footed goal at full pace from 30 metres out.

Soon after, the 196cm Lisle plucked a one-handed contested grab and split the sticks from just inside the 50 metre arc.

The ex-Hawk then slotted another six-pointer courtesy of a holding free kick, and the Lions held a convincing 11.4.70 to 6.4.40 half time lead.

The first ten minutes of the second half were decidedly scrappy, with neither team able to convert a host of opportunities.

Josh Fraser eventually broke the goal-scoring drought for the Suns before Patrick Karnezis returned fire with a snapped major from close range.

A trio of goals late in the quarter cut the Lions’ lead to 22 points at three quarter time and ensured the home team had a sniff of victory.

In the end, a sniff was all the Gold Coast needed, as they came from behind in the dying stages to snatch the 15.13 (103) to 14.11 (95) win.

Steve Wrigley reckons the tough loss may actually help the Lions in the back-end of the season.

“It’s a bit of a reality check; we’re not just going to roll through the rest of the year,” Wrigley said.

“With four weeks to go maybe it comes at the right time; we’ve definitely learnt something from today and there are positives we can take out of it.”

The individual positives for the Lions were plentiful on Saturday, highlighted by Jordan Lisle’s five-goal haul and Cheynee Stiller’s 36 touches.

Josh Green and Patty Karnezis both won 28 touches, Wrigley had 27 and snagged two goals, and Sam Docherty relished playing through the midfield for the second week in a row and amassed 26 disposals.

Special mention must also go to Josh Dyson, who collected 22 possessions and had a team-high 10 marks and 8 tackles.

Brisbane will look to bounce back away from home against Mt Gravatt next Saturday afternoon (28 July) at 1:30pm.