The Cootamundra lock crashed over late to earn his team a draw with Tumut at Les Boyd Oval on Sunday.

In a see-sawing contest the Blues looked to have gained the upper hand before Cowled scored and James Smith calmly slotted the conversion to see things finish at 24-all.

Tumut co-coach Adam Pearce thought it was one his team let slip.

“It should have been a win,” Pearce said.

“It was the one that got away.”

Pearce scored his second try with five minutes left to put the Blues back in front.

Jason Webb had the chance to seal the win, but missed the conversion attempt and the Bulldogs then regathered the ball from the restart and worked their way down field to score.

The draw means both teams remain outside the top four and need Junee to lose to Young next week to have any chance of playing finals.

Cootamundra travels to play bottom side Temora while Tumut hosts ladder leaders Southcity on Sunday and both must win to have any hope of playing finals.

Co-coach Dean Bristow will be in doubt for the big clash at Twickenham after coming off with a ribs complaint.

He was replaced late in the clash meaning the Blues were without their regular goal kicker at the end.

Their season is riding on the round results but Pearce is looking to focus on only what his side can control.

“It is in our hands and we just have to concentrate on winning first and then hopefully results go our way,” he said.

“It would have been good to win this one for a bit of extra breathing room.”

It was only late in the game the Blues started to get on top.

Cootamundra coach Glen Buttriss opened the scoring early only for Bristow to hit back minutes later. 

The two teams went try for try in the first half with lovely ball from Buttriss finding Paddy Cameron in space late in the first half to hand the Bulldogs a 14-10 lead at the break.

Cameron then scored early in the second half to give Cootamundra a 18-10 lead before tries to Ben Roddy, Jordan Anderson and Pearce saw the Blues get their noses back in front.

However there was another twist in store to leave three clubs very anxious heading into the final round of the season.

Regardless of the result next week, Pearce and Bristow have been locked in for another year at the helm.

It is the first time the Blues will have the same coaching structure for consecutive season since Clay Campbell was re-signed after the 2009 season.

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