MNL | Gallery | Moama bests Tongala in one-goal epic and Nathalia brushes past brave Mulwala as finals action begins

The final siren sounded on one of the closest games of netball you are likely to see as Tongala’s Abby Nexhip had the ball in the goal circle, preparing to have a shot to tie the scores.

This came after Moama attacker Steph Watson put the Magpies in front with no more than 20 seconds left on the clock.

“I am ecstatic, I am overwhelmed with the response and how the girls reacted,” Magpies coach Lisa Drysdale said.

“It was anyone’s game from the get-go. It could not have been closer if we tried, it was just unreal.”

On Saturday, Nathalia began its finals campaign in convincing fashion, outclassing a dogged Mulwala outfit 39-26 in the first elimination final at Tongala Recreation Reserve.

Coming into the clash as the competition’s third seed, it was widely expected the Purples would feast on a Mulwala side that only just managed to sneak into the six.

But to the Lions’ credit, they put up a fight for the entire four quarters, with their extreme defensive pressure making things difficult for a Nathalia side that dropped just three games in the home-and-away season.

Although they were locked in a tight battle early, a blitz towards the end of the first term saw Nathalia build a sizeable advantage.

Mulwala did its best to claw its way back into the contest in the third term, but the class of the Purples was too much, with a dominant last stanza resulting in a 13-goal win.

Thrilled to be moving on to the second week of the finals series, Purples coach Blaise Mortimer praised her team’s ability to get the job done.

“Weather-wise it was our first ‘hot’ game since the start of the season and our girls held up to that really well fitness-wise and fought the game out from start to finish,” Mortimer said.

“It probably took us until halfway through the first quarter to properly settle, but from there we really clamped down in defence, held the ball up in our attack end, built a solid lead and maintained it for the rest of the game.

“So, overall I would say it was a very professional performance by the girls as we look forward to next week.”

Being a final, the intensity certainly went up a gear, as a desperate Mulwala side threw everything it had at the highly-fancied Purples.

Mortimer said the match was a definite pre-cursor of what was to come over the next few weeks and was happy with how her team handled the pressure.

“I thought Mulwala definitely took it up to us at certain times through the game, and to the girls’ credit they were able to work out what needed to change, take on feedback and go out and execute,” she said.

“We adapted really well to the finals pressure and the performance certainly gives us confidence moving forward.”

Sporting a number of winners across the court, Mortimer outlined who she thought stood out on the day.

“Olivia Tilyard through the mid-court was unreal. She had hands on the ball all day, got so many taps and intercepts from passes and was a nice strong body all the way down the court,” she said.

“Tegan Sutton and Cate McLachlan were awesome in defence. They did such a good job limiting their ability to score, which ended up being a massive part of why we win.”