Moama and Nathalia served up a taste of the thrilling Murray Netball League finals action still to come after the two top-four sides played out a gripping draw on a wet and wild Saturday afternoon.
The two sides could not be split as the final siren sounded, with the scoreline locked at 30-30.
But the Magpies will be left to rue what could have been, with some mistakes in the dying moments of the game seeing them surrender their advantage late in the contest.
Up by three with less than three minutes to go, Moama couldn’t quite close out the game as Nathalia came from behind to salvage a draw.
As befitting a potential finals preview, it was a tight contest all the way through.
The Magpies held a a narrow one-goal lead after the first quarter and they were up by two at the main break, before pulling away to a five-goal advantage at three-quarter time.
But with the pressure on, some mistakes from the Magpies allowed Nathalia to get back into the contest.
"Our third quarter was great, we built a five-goal lead. But early in the last quarter we had a couple of errors and a couple of missed goals,“ Magpies coach Lisa Drysdale said.
“We were still three goals up with three minutes to go, but I think panic set in. We didn’t use our control that we had had throughout the game and we made some silly errors and they capitalised.
“They got one in the final 20 seconds to draw it at 30.”
But with finals just around the corner, Drysdale said the close encounter would certainly be a good learning experience for her side.
“We will definitely learn from what happened. It is definitely a wake-up call and something that we will work through at training,” she said.
“Right at the end I think the pressure just got the better of us. We will have a discussion about it and what everyone has to do to play their part in such a tight game.”
The encounter was the second time Moama and Nathalia have met on the court this season, with the Magpies putting in a much better performance compared to their previous 37-22 loss to the Purples.
“We matched up really well right from the get-go,“ Drysdale said.
“Last time we played them we lost by 15 goals, so we have come a long way throughout the year and improved a lot.
“Defensively, Jodie Lake and Tiarna Steele really stood up for us. They were very, very good and they worked well together. They are both so determined and they are so on the same page as defenders, it is amazing to watch them out there.”
Moama still sits in fourth spot following the draw, but the result means its hopes of finishing third are now gone, with the Pies six points behind the Purples with one round still to play.
The result also means Moama’s finals opponent is now confirmed, with the Pies to face Tongala in an elimination final.
It was Nathalia’s second draw of the season after it tied with Tongala 36-36 back in round 10.
The Purples meanwhile still have a shot at finishing second as they head into a big clash against Rumbalara to end the season. Nathalia is four points behind second-placed Rumba.
Saturday was also special occasion for Magpies Kim Hanna and Steph Watson, who took to the court for their 50th games for Moama.