The result sees the Dubbo side slip out of the top five with just two games remaining, but skipper Matt Waters said his side has to maintain the belief that has seen them shock many in their first season back in the top flight.

"We are still a shot. If we can win our last two games then we could just sneak in there," he said.

"It won't be easy after three poor losses in a row, but we have to pick ourselves up and just worry about playing Parkes this week."

For the first half-hour of the match the Lions were able to hold the Panthers at bay, but shortly after Sam Mould was denied a goal that would have given the Lions a deserved lead, Lithgow went down field and struck two killer blows.

Tom Piggott was the right man in the right place on both occasions in the 31st and 32nd minutes, as a match that had promised to be tight at the break suddenly saw the visitors take a 2-0 buffer into half-time.

The second half went much the same way as the first, with Dubbo matching their rivals before a two-minute lapse in concentration resulted in goals to Trent McDonald (53rd minute) and Jordan Savage (55th minute) that effectively killed off the match as a contest.

Nic Milne added Lithgow's fifth in the 62nd minute before Savage rounded out the scoring inside the final 60 seconds with his second of the afternoon, but despite the heavy loss Waters saw some positive signs.

"One of the things I probably took from it as that even though we got beat, the boys were still filthy about letting in those couple of late goals," Waters said.

"It was pretty quiet in the sheds after the game, but probably because we know for most of the match we really matched it with them and made them work hard.

"We had a few lapses there, and to their credit they took them, but that's what the good teams do."

The Lions will this week head to Parkes in an effort to keep their finals hopes alive, while in the womens division of the competition the Dubbo Blue Jays will be at home to Lithgow Zig Zag, with a win needed to guarantee a place in the post-season.

LITHGOW PANTHERS 6 (Tom Piggott 2, Jordan Savage 2, Trent McDonald, Nic Milne) def DUBBO LIONS 0