BRISBANE Lions coach Leigh Matthews says he and his side have been left with the most hollow of feelings after Carlton came from 32 points behind at three-quarter time to snatch a dramatic six-point win at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The Lions have lost from seemingly secure positions against Melbourne, Richmond and North Melbourne already this season, but the defeat by the Blues was even more galling because of the circumstances.

Had the Lions won, they would have played the Sydney Swans next week for a finals spot. Now their finals chances are largely mathematical and hinge on Adelaide beating St Kilda on Sunday.

“You always want to prolong the season after round 22 and before tonight that was possible. Now we tend to know our season will end next week,” Matthews said.

“It’s a hollow feeling when you get to that point and when you are five goals in front at three-quarter-time, it’s even more hollow.

“I don’t believe in ‘should be.’ You either do or you don’t, unless you are very unlucky.

“Carlton kicked 18.4 off the boot and they earned the win. We earned the right to be in front at three-quarter time but I don’t believe that ‘should haves’ count.”

Matthews was left lamenting a last quarter in which the Blues more than doubled the Lions’ possession count, with key midfielders Nick Stevens, Chris Judd and Marc Murphy racking up 33 disposals between them.

The four-time premiership coach said there was no point in the Lions trying to play possession football in a bid to curb Carlton’s momentum – mainly because they couldn’t get hold of the ball in the first place.

“We just weren’t getting possession to stop it,” Matthews said.

“They kicked goals, then the ball came back to the centre for the bounce, then they would clear the ball out of the centre bounce. Maybe we could have put 18 blokes in the back half.

“In the third quarter we won virtually every centre bounce and scored. But for the first 10 minutes of the last quarter – there were only six centre bounces in the quarter and they were all in that first 10 minutes – they got every one.”

Matthews doesn’t plan on resting any of his stars for last round of the home-and-away campaign and expects to name a close-to full-strength squad for the clash with the Swans.

“I don’t think anyone out there wouldn’t be available to play next week,” he said.

“The niggles we had were niggles, not things that stopped players getting out there.”