The winless Lions met fellow strugglers City at Bob Roach Field on Saturday and it was the hosts who walked away as winners for the first time.

A stunning solo goal from Isaac Darlington inside the last minute broke Dubbo hearts and sealed a 3-2 win for City.

Having led 2-0 inside the last 10 minutes City were looking set to break into unfamiliar winning territory until the Lions struck back with two rapid-fire replies.

With players constantly being sent for stints on the sideline, thanks to misconduct, City were on the verge of cracking apart until Darlington's moment of magic.

Prior to Saturday's success the only competition points City had earned was on the back of an overturned defeat to Parkes United, since their opponents had fielded an unregistered player.

City assistant coach Shane Jackman said his team have now showed themselves what they are capable of when they put their minds to it.

"I couldn't have hoped for anything that good," he said of the final goal.

"It still leaves so much to work on but in saying that it's so good for the boys to see, when they put the effort in, they can get it. It was so satisfying to see it. They really needed something like that and it was really good to watch."

For Dubbo coach Graeme Waters it was almost a comeback to remember.

"We went a bit quiet in a couple of spots and that really hurt us. We just needed to push a bit harder but it was a great game in the end. A real nail-biter," he said.

"We've been struggling with a bit of consistency and keeping up that full intensity for the full 70 minutes. The boys have been getting better and better at that and playing it right out to the last minute ... It's a pity we couldn't put away that penalty corner at the end for a draw."

The first half looked certain to end at nil-all until Jacob Hill managed to convert from City's only penalty corner of the game with less than a minute to go.

A well-placed short pass from Kyle Reardon helped set up Blake Davis at the top of the Lions' circle to land City's second goal of the day.

Tensions started to boil over and discipline began to disappear from both teams in the second half, especially the hosts.

Four City players and one Lions player were shown either green or yellow cards across the half.

On two separate occasions City were reduced to just nine men on the field.

Simon Allan converted a penalty stroke following one of the green cards before Luke Carman struck to even things up.

But approaching the final siren Darlington started his run from just inside the Lions half on the left wing, spinning off a defender, beating another to the circle before slamming home a reverse stick strike that will be remembered by his team for some time to come.

City had to survive a Lions post-siren penalty corner but once they did it was time to celebrate.

The win gives City an eight-point buffer ahead of the Lions in the race to avoid the wooden spoon.

BATHURST CITY 3 (Jacob Hill, Blake Davis, Isaac Darlington) defeated DUBBO LIONS 2 (Simon Allen, Luke Carmen)