ADELAIDE has put a big dent in Brisbane's finals aspirations with a grinding nine-point victory at windy Brighton Homes Arena on Sunday night. 

Establishing an early advantage with the breeze at their backs, the Crows were never headed and snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Lions to win 5.9 (39) to 4.6 (30).

LIONS V CROWS Full match details and stats

Their third win of the season was sealed midway through the final term when exciting youngster India Rasheed nailed her left foot shot from 30m to kick the game’s only goal against the wind.

Adelaide deserved its win, dominating at clearance (35-14) and having slightly more polish than the hosts, who battled hard, but were let down by skill errors.

Ebony Marinoff was at her hard-working best, finishing with 24 disposals that included 10 clearances, along with 12 tackles.

Grace Egan (27) was also prolific, while Teah Charlton (17, seven clearances and 12 tackles) played one of the best games of her career.

For Brisbane, Ally Anderson (32 and 14 tackles) tried to lift her team with a huge second half, while defenders Jen Dunne, Nat Grider and skipper Bre Koenen were terrific under constant pressure.

Any first-half ascendancy seemed to fluctuate with the blustery wind that whipped up-and-down the ground as both teams struggled to move the ball effectively.

Adelaide hemmed the Lions into their defensive end early in the match, with Sarah Goodwin kicking the game’s first goal and Grace Kelly capitalising on a hesitant exit kick from youngster Claudia Wright.

The home side fought back in the second quarter.

Although it wasn’t always pretty, the method of moving the ball was there to see; it was just being let down by some poor skills on occasions.

That certainly was not the case when Anderson scooped up a loose ball with her right hand, sidestepped superbly and then sent Orla O’Dwyer into an open goal with a nice handball.

When Shanae Davison hammered one through from close range, the Crows led by just two points at the main break.

However, the match winning advantage came in the third when Hannah Munyard was on the right side of the Score Review, and then Charlton was gifted a goal by a Lily-Rose Williamson indiscretion that cost 50m.

Lions top eight chances on the brink
Halfway through the season, Brisbane is in the unusual, and precarious, position of having just two wins from six matches and facing the real possibility of not playing finals. They will get some key players back from injury in coming weeks, but the road to the top eight is not easy, with high-flying Sydney (away), Gold Coast (home) and Hawthorn (away) in the next three weeks. They also finish the season by hosting the impressive Carlton.

Was it a goal or not?
There was a bit of controversy in the third quarter when the AFL’s Score Review put a pause on the game for two minutes before eventually awarding Hannah Munyard a goal for Adelaide. Initially after heavy consultation between the field umpire, goal umpire and boundary umpire, it was decided Lion Jen Dunne had got the final touch on a ball that crossed the goal-line, with a behind awarded. However, just after Brisbane kicked-in, play was stopped, with a lengthy review ensuing and an overturned decision.

Up next
Adelaide will try to get on the right side of the win-loss ledger when it hosts Fremantle next Sunday at Unley Oval from 12.35pm ACST. The Lions have another difficult match, travelling to Sydney to play the 5-1 Swans at Henson Oval at 3.05pm AEST.

BRISBANE 0.2  2.3  2.4  4.6 (30)
ADELAIDE 2.2  2.5  4.5  5.9 (39)

GOALS
Brisbane: O’Dwyer, Davison, Fearn-Wannan, C.Svarc
Adelaide: Goodwin, G.Kelly, Munyard, Charlton, Rasheed

BEST
Brisbane: Anderson, Koenen, Dunne, Dawes, Grider, R.Svarc
Adelaide: Marinoff, Egan, Charlton, N.Kelly, G.Kelly, Newman

INJURIES
Brisbane: Nil
Adelaide: Gorman (knee)

Reports: Nil