New South Wales Swifts captain Catherine Cox was almost as annoyed as she was relieved following her side's dramatic one-point win against the Steel in Dunedin on Thursday night.
The win kept the Sydney-based team in the hunt for the playoffs and brought the Steel's seven-game unbeaten run in Dunedin to an end - but only just.
With a couple of seconds remaining, Daneka Wipiiti missed a shot from deep in the circle which would have forced the game into overtime.
It capped off a disappointing few days for the shooter. Earlier in the week she lost her spot in the Silver Ferns, with team-mate Paula Griffin preferred.
Cox was in no mood to gloat after what was, in some respects, a lucky escape.
"I'm not taking anything away from the Steel - they had an amazing game," Cox said.
"It was just a really hard-fought game.
"[But] the Swifts have been woeful in the second half of games this season. We speak about it, speak about it and speak about it but it is something we can't seem to get a handle on."
The Steel made what should have been the decisive break of the game, scoring the opening five goals of the third quarter to stretch its lead to six.
The Swifts reacted by making some changes in the midcourt.
The mobile Kimberley Smith replaced Mo'onia Gerrard at wing defence and the nuggety Kimberlee Green came on for Vanessa Ware.
The pair made an immediate impact. Green contested every possession, no matter how forlorn the chance of winning the ball back, and Smith made some telling intercepts in the dying moments of the game to help seal the win.
"We were very fortunate to get away with [the win] with Kimberley Smith's intercept right at the end there. The first person I went and hugged was her because I'm not sure I had an extra 15 minutes in me. So thank God for that."
It was a tough night for all the shooters with both sides doing some brilliant work on defence.
Steel goal keep Leana de Bruin was a tower of strength once again. The amount of ball she won back for the Steel which was then squandered further down court was heartbreaking.
In the final few moments she made two huge rebounds, which should have been enough to win the game for her team.
"[De Bruin] is amazing. I think she has been the form goal keep this season," Cox said.
"We knew that coming into it. But we made her look good at times by putting the ball in the air. We talked about not doing that but continued to do that right at the end and, of course, she was eating them up."
The Steel's attack end has struggled all season and Thursday night was no exception. The Swifts defensive pair of Rebecca Bulley and Sonia Mkoloma did a great job pushing Wipiiti wide and forcing her to shoot from deep in the circle.
That proved telling with Wipiiti landing just 23 of her 35 attempts. Griffin also struggled with 16 from 23.
The Queensland Firebirds are safely though to the playoffs but you could throw a blanket over the next four sides. The win lifted the Swifts to 16 points and a share of second place with the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic.
The Melbourne Vixens and Northern Mystics are on 14 points but are expected to register wins this round. The Vixens play the Central Pulse in Melbourne today and the Mystics host the bottom-placed Canterbury Tactix.
The Magic has the toughest fixture with an away match against the Adelaide Thunderbirds tomorrow.
The Steel is unlikely to climb the ladder any higher than seventh but it could still have a say in the make up of the semifinalists if it beats the Mystics in Invercargill on May 1.
