A Clare Bosman double in the third quarter set up Panthers' win - a result which keeps the Lithgow side in the hunt for a major semi-final and means City needs its best attacking performance of the season to take fourth spot.

City not only needs to beat Confederates in next Saturday's final round, but do so by at least a five-goal margin.

Though now under extreme pressure to perform, City coach Lisa Quinn could not fault the effort her players put into the contest with Panthers.

"Look, I'm happy with how we played. It's a taste of where we need to be if we get that top four next week," she said.

"We know what we are in for if we make the finals, because they certainly played like a grand final winning team."

The first half of Saturday's match at Bob Roach Field was goalless, but both sides had their chances.

Panthers had four penalty corners in the opening quarter - one of which was saved on the line by Reita Holmes - while City goalkeeper Maddy Tattersall produced two double-block plays inside the first three minutes.

City had two first half penalty corner attempts saved and another Bec Bosianek effort pushed just inches wide.

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Five minutes into the second half Panthers finally found the mark as Bosman slotted home from a penalty corner.

She added another from a penalty stroke just over three minutes later.

City pulled it back to 2-1 with seven minutes remaining after a Quinn pass picked out Bosianek, the striker had her effort blocked, but the ball then spilled to Jade Tee Weehi who slotted home.

While City earned two penalty corners in the minutes that remained, both went unconverted.

"We had pretty much full strength team, but Panthers today, in my opinion that was the hardest game we've played all season," Quinn said.

"They came out hard, they came out fast, they moved the ball well, they took it to us. Our girls I think played very, very well, everyone gave their all, everyone gave their hardest, but yeah, we didn't come away with the win."

Panthers coach Dave Marshall admitted his side was below its best in the opening half, but was happy with how they adjusted and lifted their intensity after the long break.

"We struggled in that first half, I think they out-enthused us and that's probably because their season was on the line really," he said.

"We played like that last week too against Pat's, we lacked that enthusiasm and that will to win. But in the second half I think we played a lot better, we threw the ball around a lot better.

"We probably didn't make the most of our chances, but I thought we held the ball well. We tried a couple of different things in the second half which seemed to work okay.

"I think we needed to that because last week against St Pat's we were flat as tacks in the way we were going."