The Magpies had headed to Barraba on Saturday knowing they needed to win to have any shot of making the finals. They also needed Quirindi to slip-up against Gunnedah.

The Lions didn’t come to the party, thrashing the Red Devils 39-nil. It meant the Magpies 27-24 win over the Rams wasn’t enough for them to squeeze into the finals.

It was tough and nerve-racking, with only three points between the two sides at half-time and the momentum see-sawing, Magpies co-coach Mark Daley said.

Second rower Nick Lyons put the Magpies ahead with around five or six minutes to go. They then had to survive one final push from the home side after Pat Strong had missed with a penalty kick in the final minute or so.

“It was probably one of our better performances,. Daley said.

The lineout for one was a lot more effective than it has been.

“Probably our lineout has let us down,” Daley said.

“We just couldn’t sustain any pressure.”

It worked a lot better for them on Saturday.

“It was a good contest between both backlines,” he said.

“Probably the difference was the big guys like Mitch Wheaton and Nick Lyons. They started punching holes through.”

Both were a part of the reason the Magpies qualified for the top tier last year, and really took some ownership, Daley said.

Lyons played the best game he’s seen him play, and made a couple of great long range runs.

“Both ran straight,” he said.

It’s something they’ve been trying to get them to do.

Daley’s only real complaint was their kick-off receives. They were prone to turning the ball over after scoring points, which then put them straight under pressure.

Lyons and Wheaton were hard to go past as their best. The ever-consistent backrow of Tom Anderson, James Bracken and Jack Barker weren't far behind them though.

Daley was also happy with how the backline performed.