It was third time lucky for North Otago.
They found themselves down by six points against Thames Valley on Saturday, hot on attack just 5m out and with time up on the clock.
The Old Golds thought they had scored the match-winner when Jake Greenslade burrowed over, but the referee ruled it to be a double movement and went back to a prior infringement by Thames Valley.
Then it was Tini Feke who thought he had it down, but the referee again shook his head and again went back for a penalty.
So when Samu Babiau dived over the ruck to score just beside the post, you could forgive the fans at Maheno for not celebrating before the referee finally awarded the try.
It was then up to Josh Phipps, who had been on the field only a few minutes, to knock over the conversion for the win.
And he did it.
The 34-33 victory keeps North Otago’s hopes of making the Meads Cup semifinals alive.
Coach Jason Forrest was relieved they were able to get over the line.
"We’ll take that one. We’ve been on the [wrong] end of those ones the last couple of times, so really happy to finally get one of those close ones home."
He was immensely proud of the way his team stood up in the final 10 minutes, especially as they were down to 14 men after captain Rory Bartle was sin-binned.
"We just went to work.
"The boys showed some real ticker."
Maheno men Hayden Tisdall and Josh Clark, who was playing his 50th first-class game, put in a huge shift, Forrest said.
The visitors got on the scoreboard first after big lock Tim Erceg threw a dummy and waltzed over.
But it did not take long for the Old Golds to hit back as Junior Fakatoufifita charged over from a well-worked lineout move in the opposition 22m.
Thames Valley then scored 16 straight points to build a comfortable lead after half an hour.
A driving maul saw Tisdall score and Lucas Ollion added the conversion just before halftime to close the gap to single digits heading into the sheds.
Feke burrowed his way over on a pick-and-go to get scoring under way in the second 40.
Thames Valley hit back as halfback Leroy Neels bagged his second before Feke went over again to keep his side in the contest.
The two sides then traded penalty goals to set up the grandstand finish.
North Otago fans will be wearing two caps this weekend as they will need the Old Golds to beat West Coast with a bonus point and for Thames Valley to beat East Coast to finish in the top four.
Heartland Championship
The scores
North Otago 34
Tini Feke 2, Junior Fakatoufifita, Hayden Tisdall, Samu Babiau tries; Josh Phipps con, Lucas Ollion 2 con, pen.
Thames Valley 33
Leroy Neels 2, Tim Erceg, Ethan Dromgool tries; Fletcher Morgan 2 con, 3 pen.
Halftime: Thames Valley 23-14.
