Tudor Wests have reignited the battle for finals spots in the Tamworth men's first grade competition with an upset win over competition leaders Workies on Sunday.
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The 4-3 result coupled with South United's 3-nil win over Kiwi Diggers have tightened things up.
Seemingly coasting towards another minor premiership, Workies find themselves a bit vulnerable with Souths now only a win behind (although Workies have a superior goal difference) with two rounds remaining.
With the win Tudors have also given themselves a mathematical chance of sneaking into third. But they need a lot to go right for them starting with beating Kiwis, who they sit two wins adrift of, this weekend.
Sunday's win was Tudors' first since June.
"It was good to finally get a win," captain Brett Lobsey said.
"Finally we got some short corners and some goals."
That was the big difference, he said, although they almost blew it.
"We closed up shop a bit early," he said.
"We were up 4-2 with about six minutes to go. Workies scored with three minutes to go and they kept on coming."
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"They almost got it back to a draw but we held them out."
Jake Sheppeard came up with a crucial tackle in the final moments to shut Workies down.
Lobsey was one of four goal scorers for Tudors with Sam Lobsey, Oliver McGill and Garry Irvine also finding the back of the net.
Stepping up from second grade, Lobsey said Irvine made a lot of difference up front and was one of their best along with his brother (Sam Lobsey), McGill and Andrew Millman.
Workies coach Andrew Farmilo said they didn't take their opportunities and lambasted their shooting.
"Our shooting as abysmal," he said.
"We created enough chances but we were just poor and took poor options."
They were shooting from the backline and going for the 'glory' shot rather than looking for the pass.
Souths' defence then proved impenetrable in what captain-coach Sam Clifton labelled a pleasing performance from his side.
"It was a good team game. The boys are starting to play a lot better," Clifton said.
"The last month or so we've concentrated on what we're doing a lot more."
He said he always felt "pretty comfortable" and was particularly happy with the nil against.
Kiwis did throw a fair bit at them early in the second half but they handled it pretty easily, Clifton noting that they didn't concede a corner for the game and Kiwis didn't really have a shot on goal on target.
He was also pretty happy with how the attack functioned. They played it out of the defence a bit more and played a good passing game.
"We let the ball do the work," he said.
"We really concentrated on trying to get into good position and get away from being more individual."
Kiwis captain Josh Worpel said the most disappointing thing was that they didn't get any results in the circle.
"I wasn't too disappointed about not scoring goals but we didn't have a short corner at all," he said.
Defensively he thought they did pretty well.
TABLE: Workies 24, Souths 22, Kiwis 11, Tudors 7.
- The victorious 1969 Kiwis side will be holding a reunion this weekend as they commemorate 50 years since they won the premiership. The main event will be a dinner at Diggers on Saturday night but they will also get together for some drinks at Diggers on Friday night and a barbecue on Sunday out at the hockey fields.
