Bathurst finished at the top of their pool in the competition at Lithgow and gave it their all in a tough final against Newcastle, going down 2-0.

The team went into the competition with high expectations and coach Mal Willott said the squad lived up to their potential all weekend.

"We were definitely hoping to be right up there because we'd played against some of these teams at the Moorebank carnival so we knew what we were up against," he said.

"We just wanted to play at the standard those other teams were playing at, which we did."

Bathurst made a winning start to their competition on Friday when they took down Manning Valley 2-0 but were beaten by New England later that evening 1-0.

The team were able to adjust well to a change of surface in their 2-0 success against Central Coast on Saturday.

Bathurst not only needed a win in their last pool game if they were to finish at the top of the ladder but a decent margin to put themselves clear of New England on point difference.

They managed to do just that, bringing down Port Macquarie Hastings 4-1.

Bathurst accounted for Far North Coast 3-0 in the semi-finals on Sunday before they went down in an entertaining decider against Newcastle.

Willott said an improved second half's play in the loss to New England laid the platform for the team's grand final run.

"We were turning the ball over too much in that second game but in the second half we came out and did what we talked about at half-time - holding the ball, possessing it, and we played all over them," he said.

"The umpire just wouldn't blow the whistle for a short corner and our girls were getting frustrated but there was nothing we could do. It was one of our best halves of the carnival and they came back ready to go on the next day.

"The game on grass was the one we weren't sure about ... but we came away with a 2-0 win."

Most of the Bathurst team will be back to contest the same age group in the 2022 competition.

"We only had six girls who were top age and the rest were all younger," Willott said.

"Ellie [Bestwick] is only 13 and our goalkeeper [Georgia Baillie] is only 13 as well, and she had an outstanding carnival."

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