The As and Bs were both involved in finals yesterday, with the As going down to Illawarra 4-1 in Division 1 and the Bs to Bathurst 3-1 in Division 3.

The As were defending joint premiers and undefeated for the weekend heading into the final, but fell behind 2-nil early.

They got back to 2-1 just before half-time courtesy of a corner to Chris Ninness and held the score at that until six minutes to go when Illawarra popped in another two in quick succession to seal the win.

“They were a better side and played with generally more intensity than we did,” As coach Graeme McKenzie said.

“We did play a nice style but we were just outgunned.”

On Saturday they drew their final pool game against Macarthur 1-all, recovering from a 1-nil deficit they carried for most of the game.

James Psarakis sank the equaliser with around a minute-and-a-half remaining.

The draw put them equal with Macarthur on points but top of their pool on goal difference.

That pitted them against Grafton in the semi-final, where they repeated their morning effort, falling behind 1-nil before – a bit earlier this time – five minutes into the second half fighting back to level terms through Isaac Farmilo.

It was enough to progress through to the final having finished the higher in their respective pools.

The Bs yesterday scored the final goal of their final, with Mitchell Sheppeard putting away “a nice team goal”, as coach Sue Budden described, with about five minutes to go.

“It was a nice way to finish the game,” she said.

They had drawn with Bathurst 1-all in their final round game, but yesterday the Western side was bigger and stronger.

“Their structure was a bit better than ours in the final,” Budden said.

Still, they didn’t give up, which was one of the most pleasing aspects for Budden.

They won through to the final with a 3-nil semi-final win over Orange.

“We came out hard and fast in the first 10 minutes. That was probably what won it for us,” Budden said.

“We played a great team structure.”

A finals appearance was a huge effort for them, after not winning a game in C Division the previous year.

“It was a fantastic effort to make the final. Tremendous,” Budden said.