Subiaco pulled off a remarkable 26-point turnaround to retain fifth spot, overrunning a wasteful Perth to claim a win by the smallest of margins at Sullivan Logistics Stadium on Saturday.

The Lions were down by 25 points early in the second term and lucky not to be further behind given the Demons’ dominance.

But the door was left ajar for Subiaco, and they happily smashed it down in a fantastic second half to stun Perth 10.10 (70) to 9.15 (69), who have now lost 11 of their past 12 games at the Leederville venue.

There was no love lost between the two teams and the animosity was epitomised by the respective captains in Greg Clark and Charlie Constable, who clashed on several occasions.

The battle of the midfields was fascinating, with reigning Sandover medallist Constable (23 disposals and six inside 50s) and Brandan Parfitt (28 disposals, 11 inside 50s and a goal) on top in the first half before the Lions matched them after half-time.

Subiaco key back Jacob Blight was enormous against Bernie Naylor Medal leader Aaron Clarke, holding the forward goalless despite battling a right hamstring injury for most of the game.

Early Perth dominated territory, registering the first 12 forward 50 entries but had a return of only five behinds.

It took nearly 20 minutes for the Demons to finally kick the first goal when Cooper Moore put the fans out of their misery from a straightforward set shot.

Subiaco’s defence was stoic under the sheer pressure of Perth but weren’t getting support further up the field as the Lions struggled to score and found themselves 25 points adrift early in the second term.

The home side finally broke their drought in the 10th minute of the quarter through a classy snap from Rory Murison and were still in the contest because of the wastefulness of their opponents.

Subiaco’s intensity lifted on the back of the breakthrough, and the contest finally became the arm-wrestle it had promised to be in the lead-up.

Stefan Giro (30 disposals, seven inside 50s and two goals) began to dominate in the middle of the ground, while the work the Lions had done on Constable finally began to pay dividends as he struggled to have the impact which defined the Demons’ first-term dominance.

Fittingly, Giro gave them the lead for the first time in the game in time-on of the third term with a classy snap, with the Lions’ momentum continually building.

Perth wrestled it back and kicked consecutive goals before the final break to set up a thrilling final term.

And it delivered with each side trading blows, before Jack Mayo kicked the match-winner with a response major from Jack Kluske (two goals) coming too late for the Demons.

SCOREBOARD

SUBIACO 0.0, 3.3, 7.6, 10.10 (70)

PERTH 2.6, 4.9, 7.12, 9.15 (69)

Goals – SUBIACO: R Borchet 2 S Giro 2 K Douglas C Henderson N Hibbins-Hargreaves J Mayo R Murison J Petruccelle. PERTH: J Kluske 2 L Paton 2 A Davis K Johnston C Moore B Parfitt W Tilbee.

Best – SUBIACO: S Giro J Blight J McGowan W Hickmott G Savigni M Corbett. PERTH: B Parfitt A Davis C Constable R Wills L Paton O Hine-Baston.

Injuries – SUBIACO: J Blight (hamstring). PERTH: J Edwards (knee).

Reports: J Petruccelle (S) for striking C Byrne (P) in the third quarter.

Umpires: M Adams M Forsyth B Evans B Laycock. Crowd: About 1100 at Sullivan Logistics Stadium.