THE UMPIRING decision that led to a crucial Port Adelaide goal was dubious, says Lions coach Michael Voss.

However Voss refused to blame the contentious decision against Daniel Merrett in the final quarter for his side's nine-point loss at AAMI Stadium on Sunday

Late in the game Merrett marked the ball deep inside Port's forward line and went to kick. However, Merrett stopped and pointed to the Power's Angus Monfries who appeared to be within his protected five-metre zone without a direct opponent.

The umpire called play on and Port pounced, kicking a goal through Chad Wingard that put the Power 10 points up with seven minutes to play.

Voss labelled it only a "small moment" in the game but admitted his initial thoughts were that the umpire had it wrong.

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"I'll have to go back and check the vision, but I'm just hoping Monfries was somewhere in the vicinity of one of [Merrett's] teammates," he said.

"Otherwise he was within the five metre area so that'll be an interesting one.

"My first instinct was 'what was Monfries doing standing there?'"

Voss' counterpart Ken Hinkley had a vastly different take on the incident.

The victorious coach was adamant the umpire made the right decision in calling play on.

"I think [Merrett] went, I think he took off," Hinkley said.

The loss put the Lions three games out of the eight with five to play, but Voss held onto their mathematical chance of a finals berth.  

They somehow managed to remain in the contest at AAMI Stadium despite losing most key performance indicators including clearances, contested possessions and inside 50s.

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Voss said he was proud of the way his players fought it out in tough, windy conditions and that he'd continue to fight alongside them for the rest of the season.

"This side doesn't give up so neither will I," Voss said. "The obligation for us is to see out the season strong.

"Since the halfway mark we've made some huge gains within our group so we're going to continue to emphasise what they are and continue to build.

"I'm pleased with the direction the team's heading, I'm pleased with some of the development of some of our players and we've just got to keep backing that in and we'll get there."

Voss said the game was lost for his side in the opening half's red time.

In time-on in the first and second quarters the Power booted 3.5 to 0.1.

The coach conceded an overall period of five minutes cost the Lions the game.

"Probably three minutes in the backend of the first quarter and two minutes in the back end of the second quarter – they kicked multiple goals in those two small periods of time and we weren't able to get any scores ourselves," he said.

"That was probably the defining difference in the end."

Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry