Southland centre Kendrick Lynn scored under the posts three minutes into the second half, giving Southland a 10-point lead and leaving Otago chasing the game.
"That start straight after half-time really gave them some momentum and we had to come quickly back into the game. But to give our guys credit, we created some scoring opportunities," Martin said.
"We can create those chances and we made a couple of good line-breaks, but the next step is that we have to finish those line-breaks off and score."
Martin was confident his side could run Southland down in the dying stages but it could not clear the ball often enough.
He was reasonably happy with the attack but felt the side needed to use a few more decoy runners, and get over the advantage line more quickly.
Martin said Southland gave as good as it got at the breakdown, both fair and foul.
"Through both legal and illegal means they managed to get into our breakdown and slow the ball down enough for them to get their defence set."
Otago had to stay poised and wait for the openings to open against such a hectic defence as Southland's, Martin said.
He said there was no hangover from last week's Ranfurly Shield loss in the performance, but it was vital to notch a win next Thursday against North Harbour at Carisbrook.
There were no major injuries in the Otago camp after the game.
Southland co-coach David Henderson praised his side's second-half effort after what he called an inaccurate first half.
He said it was great to win after the heartbreaking loss when the teams met last year, and the guys were "physically pretty sore".
His team needed to gain more territory in the second half, and to hang on to the ball, he said.
"Every time we got down in their territory in the first half we would spill the ball and not hang on to it," Henderson said.
"We just needed to put more pressure on them, and that came through the try. But that came after 10-12 phases so that was good work by us."
Southland youngster Robbie Robinson showed some nice touches in the No 10 jersey and Henderson said the first five was getting better every week, which was encouraging given he had not spent much time in the position at first-class level.
