Tamworth staved off three penalty corners in the last minute of their final open men's state championship pool game to keep their home state open men's championship title hopes well and truly alive.
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The 2-1 win assured their spot in the semi-finals, and they will now play Metro South West at 10.30am on Monday morning for a spot in the final.
It was heart in the mouth stuff with the Frogs trailing Northern Sydney & Beaches 1-nil at one stage.
They levelled through a penalty stroke and then went ahead with about five minutes remaining, but had to dig deep to hold onto the lead.
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Coach Richard Willis highlighted the work of keeper Andrew Kelly and lead runner James Riddell.
"Andrew Kelly's the stalwart of the Tamworth Frogs, been in the net for a long time," he said.
"One of his forte's is penalty corner defence.
"While I was nervous I was actually quite calm."
"The other part of the penalty corner defence is the first runner and James Riddell is fearless and runs the perfect line."
Roped in at the last minute to fill in for Simon Massey, Willis said he was "proud of what they've done to get into the semi-finals and the way they've played".
They didn't drop a game, notching wins over Central Coast (4-nil) and Grafton (6-nil) and drawing 1-all with defending champions Illawarra South Coast on Saturday night in what was a high quality contest.
The 'Beaches' game probably wasn't their best performance but they found something when they needed it.
Willis said they probably dominated 90 per cent of possession and created some good chances but just couldn't convert on the scoreboard.
"What I was proud of was there was some still real calmness about the group, they never panicked and the result came our way," he said.
The Tamworth 2s meanwhile will play Manning Valley at 8am on Monday. They won both their games yesterday, beating Northern Inland 5-2 and Manning Valley 3-nil to finish with three wins and a loss from the weekend.
