A GOAL after the siren to North Wagga forward Josh Thompson helped the Saints clinch a draw with The Rock-Yerong Creek on Saturday.
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Thompson kicked truly from close to 50 metres out to level the scores, 11.8 (74) to the Magpies 10.14 (74) in a thriller at Victoria Park.
It got the Saints out of jail after they blew an early 32-point lead only to fall behind for the first time with about a minute remaining.
North Wagga started the contest like a house on fire with five first-quarter majors to Nathan Dennis helping the Saints to an eight-goal opening term and 32-point lead at the first change.
Slowly but surely the Magpies were able to wrestle the momentum back and slow the Saints down. The home team won the second and third terms to reduce the margin to eight points at three-quarter-time.
A tense final term saw scoring dry up but the Magpies hit the front with about a minute to go. TRYC followed it up with another behind to make their lead six points, before the Saints then took the ball from end-to-end from the kick-in to create a big moment for Thompson.
The dangerous small forward stood tall under pressure and nailed the set shot to split the points and produce the Farrer League's third draw from the opening six rounds.
North Wagga coach Cayden Winter was happy to take a draw in the end.
"They played really good footy," Winter said.
"In the second quarter, they took our switch away from us, which we wanted to get going. They got on top in the midfield in the second half, we were on top in there early but they started sharking our taps. I still felt like we were bees to honey and we couldn't get on the outside. Their pressure really got good and it put us under the pump and we weren't making good decisions with the footy.
"All in all, I felt like they probably should have won the game but we got away with the two points so we'll take it."
TRYC co-coach Heath Russell said the circumstances surrounding the draw ensured it felt like a loss for the Magpies.
"It probably did in the end because we hit the front. We worked so hard to get back in front," Russell said.
Russell said the Magpies tried to look at both the positives and negatives of the performance afterwards.
"We played it both ways because it is a draw," Russell said.
"We looked at the positives, that we were able to show a bit of resilience and character in being able to come from 30 down because we probably haven't been in that position, or even done it, under Brad and I. That was the positive.
"The negative was we felt like we worked that hard to get in front that it was a loss on the flip side of that, because we had worked so hard and had hit the front."
The Magpies were left to rue a wasteful third term where they kicked 2.8 to 1.2, and obviously a slow start.
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For North Wagga, it was the second time this season they blew a big lead as they sit in eight position on the ladder with just one win from their opening five games.
"I'm trying not to read into the ladder too much, or look at the overall picture too much. We just want to week in, week out, turn up and win games of footy and that's our goal at the moment," Winter said.
"Internally we know, everyone on that field at North Wagga knows that our best footy is good enough, it's just a matter of doing it for four quarters and that's what's letting us down at the moment.
"I think a lot of people think once we get a fair bit in front it's just going to happen and this comp this year is just that tight it's not just going to happen, you have to play four quarters of footy and four quarters of good footy to get the job done.
"We were just lucky enough to scrape through by the skin of our teeth today."
Dennis continued his strong early season form and was the star for the Saints with six goals. Matt Parks had an influential game in the ruck, while Jack Flood, Xavier Lyons and Matt Thomas were also strong.
North Wagga did lose Lachie Johnson close to half-time with a bad cork.
For the Magpies, Riley Budd continued his good form with another big game in the midfield, while Harri White, Dean Biermann and Dale Cummins played important roles.
James Roberts finished with four goals for TRYC.
Full-time
North Wagga Saints 8.3 9.5 10.7 11.8 (74)
TRYC Magpies 3.1 6.3 8.11 10.14 (74)
GOALS: North Wagga Saints: N.Dennis 6, J.Thompson 2, C.Winter 1, M.Parks 1, B.Clark 1; TRYC Magpies: J.Roberts 4, C.de Brueys-Diessel 2, D.Biermann 1, D.Pieper 1, S.Wolter 1 BEST: North Wagga Saints Seniors: N.Dennis, E.Winter, C.Winter, B.Alexander, S.Keith, T.Nejman; TRYC Magpies Seniors: R.Budd, C.de Brueys-Diessel, N.Budd, A.Ridley, H.White
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