Demons snatch late win over Lions

(AAP) - In an AFL season of too many defeats and too many disappointments, bottom side Melbourne simply refused to be beaten.
And they were rewarded with only their second victory of 2008 when Brad Miller capped a fine game against Brisbane with a spectacular mark in the goalsquare.

Miller's successful conversion put the Demons ahead by one point with little more
than a minute to play.

Cameron Bruce had also goaled in the dying minutes for the Demons, who came back
from 11 points down late in time-on to win 14.9 (93) to 13.14 (92).
The Lions were hampered by three unusual incidents, although coach Leigh Matthews
refused to blame them for the defeat.

In the second quarter, Melbourne were awarded a free kick and 50m penalty after Luke
Power came off the interchange bench too quickly to replace Simon Black.
In the third term, a curling shot for goal from Brisbane spearhead Daniel Bradshaw
was ruled to have gone out of bounds on the full, even though it was clearly a
point.

And in the final quarter, Melbourne won another 50m penalty when the Lions
physiotherapist inadvertently ran across the mark as Lynden Dunn was about to take
his kick.

Each of the three incidents effectively cost Brisbane a point - significant in a
match decided by just one.

But after a horror season in which their long-term future was questioned as they
remained rooted to the bottom of the ladder, it would have been more than cruel had
Melbourne lost again.
Their heroes included Brad Green, who roamed far and wide for his 30 possessions and
kicked a vital goal early in the last term.

Miller and Colin Sylvia kicked four goals apiece to show there was life in the
forward line after the retirement of injured skipper and club record goalkicker
David Neitz.

And the decision to drop long-time No.1 ruckman Jeff White paid dividends.
Mark Jamar relished the extra rucking responsibility and sidekick Paul Johnson
produced one of the game's most inspirational moments when he ran down Brisbane
midfielder Justin Sherman late in the final term.
Melbourne coach Dean Bailey lauded the efforts of his young side, with 28-year-old
Cameron Bruce the oldest wearing red and blue.

"It was a situation where Brisbane had got in front and to our guys' credit they
decided that they didn't want to lose," he said.
"They didn't want to lose, they wanted to do everything they could to win the game.
"The players fought it out in the last 75 seconds where it was just stoppage,
stoppage, stoppage, stoppage.

"I thought it was really impressive."
Jonathan Brown kicked three of his five goals in the last quarter and Bradshaw
finished with four for the Lions.
In Power (32 possessions), Brisbane also had the best midfielder on the ground.
But it wasn't enough and they will slip a spot to seventh if Collingwood beat Sydney
next week in the concluding half of the split round.

"You kind of knew where this was one of those games where it's almost like the
spotlight you're under was pretty mild today," said Matthews.
"You're playing against a team who are struggling to win and so the question was
would the culture of the group be strong enough when you haven't got those external
competitive stimulus.

"And basically we weren't."
It was Brisbane's second successive poor showing in as many matches at the MCG this
season, following a 63-point drubbing by the Western Bulldogs earlier this month.