Maitland Mapgies coach Mick Bolch couldn't help draw comparisons between Maitland's dramatic 3-1 win against Newcastle Olympic on Sunday and his side's run in 2019.
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"It's always good to get the wins late," Bolch said. "It reminded me of a couple of seasons ago when we won the comp and won five or six games in the last five or 10 minutes."
While the 2019 and 2021 teams have significantly different rosters, the Magpies are rediscovering the winning feeling and setting their sights firmly on a top three finish.
Ben Martin and Ryan Clarke scored in the 91st and 95th minutes respectively to give Maitland a well-deserved victory after Jimmy Thompson had opened proceeding with a well-taken strike on the end of a Flynn Goodman pass.
Olympic equalised in the 68th, but Maitland looked the far better team in the final 20 with the injection of Alex Read, Clarke and Martin from the bench.
"I think the last two games have done well to get us back on track," Bolch said of the 1-0 win against Valentine and Olympic result.
"We come into a decent run of opponents in the next few weeks and if we can string a few wins together who knows where we will be at the end of the year."
Maitland are third on the ladder, equal on 25 points with Lambton and one behind top of the table Broadmeadow who both have a catch-up game in hand.
There is now a seven point gap to fourth placed Edgeworth and Newcastle Olympic are two points further back in fifth. However, both teams have two catch-up games in hand.
The Magpies are on the road to Azzurri next Sunday and expect a tough game.
"They've got plenty of strike weapons in Rene Ferguson and Scott Smith for starters," Bolch said.
"It's sort of grand finals for them for the rest of the year if they want to make finals. It's definitely going to be a pretty physical battle there on Sunday.
"If we want to make the top three we really need to win this sort of game."
There were plenty of fine performances on Sunday, but Ben Martin's 10 minute cameo at the end stole the show.
"He was very good coming on in the last 10 minutes," Bolch said.
"He has been scoring a lot of goals in reserve grade and deserved his chance. I think he said it was his first goal in first grade in four years and pretty impressive his 90th for the club."
Bolch said the performance was all the better with the Magpies missing regular starters Sean Pratt, Adam Blunden and Chris Flayers.
In addition defender Grant Brown had only training session with the team and Tyrell Paul has only had one game at right back
"I was really happy with how the back four went, I thought Carl (Thornton) and Zach (Thomas) were strong as always, but with the two wide fullbacks I thought our structure and balance was a lot better," Bolch said.
"I thought the front three combined very well again. The first goal was great lead up play and a great ball from Flynn Goodman through to Jimmy.
"They were back to pressing well and putting a lot of pressure on the opposition. The front three were working as a unit again."
