THERE aren't many crueller ways to watch your finals hopes dissipate before your eyes.
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Bathurst City were mere seconds away from snaring a hard earned draw against women's Central West Premier League Hockey leaders Lithgow Panthers on the minor premiers' own turf on Saturday.
Then, with 10 seconds left on the clock, the Panthers earned a penalty corner for an illegal tackle - a decision that left the visiting City players and bench feeling heated.
That heat then went several degrees higher when the Panthers converted the penalty corner, giving the hosts their only lead of the game after the clock had expired.
City had looked on target for an upset victory when leading 2-0 and 3-1 at various points of the match but as the game broke down, and scoring chances became harder to find, Panthers worked their way back into the game.
It's the third time this season that Bathurst City have lost by a single goal.
It seems hard to believe that a side who beat second-placed St Pat's and pushed minor premiers Lithgow to their limit could find themselves in last place on the table, but it goes to show how closely matched every team in the competition has been this year.
City coach Mal Willott said that's a fact that has never been lost on his team.
"The comp is brilliant. I love the fact that we're coming last and we still could have beaten the team coming first," he said.
"It's so close. Anyone can win on their day. It only takes something like a short corner after the whistle to lose the game."
City got off to a flying start when Ellie Bestwick converted the Bathurst side's only penalty corner of the match, then Amy Ioane doubled the advantage before the quarter-time break.
Lithgow got a goal back before the main break but City put themselves into a strong position when Bestwick set up Emily Thompson for her side's third goal of the game.
But from there the game fell into a stop-start pattern, and that saw the Panthers work momentum in their favour.
Panthers' last two goals would come in quick succession at the end of the fourth quarter, leaving City to wonder what could have been.
Willott said it was a difficult result to take.
"They came off and they were very disappointed," he said.
"We could have won it. We were in front all game but then they scored two right at the end. We were always in the game and never out of it, but it was a hard game to watch from the sideline.
"We talked before the game about trying to start our games like we've been ending them, so we started full pelt rather than building up to that. We started quickly, built up well and controlled the game.
"It just got really sloppy. It hit a point where the game didn't flow anymore because the umpiring didn't allow it. Lithgow played more to those decisions than what we did."
It means City are the only side who go into next round's last weekend of the regular season unable to reach the top four, since they have a six point gap to fourth-placed Orange United.
City will still return next week determined to find a second upset of the season over St Pat's.