Chris Scott and John Longmire were both left to lament their teams dropping two critical points in the finals race after the Cats drew with the Swans at the SCG.
The Cats lost a one-point lead when Isaac Heeney snapped a behind with 30 seconds remaining, but the Swans had just as much reason to feel like victory had been snatched from their grasp.
The hosts dominated much of the contest, particularly in the first half, but were unable to make the Cats pay on the scoreboard as a bad case of the yips took hold on Friday night.
The Swans had 32 shots to the Cats' 22, but only managed a wasteful 6.18 to 7.12 as last year's grand finalists finished level on 54 points.
"It feels like two points is better than none. And none is probably what we deserve for large parts of it," Cats coach Scott said.
"Having said that, we were the team in front late in the game.
"It's easy to think it's not your night. But I was pleased with the way our guys hung in. I'm assuming they (the Swans) would be pretty flat."
While the result and two points earned pushes the Cats (7-7-1) into the top eight with much of round 16 still to play out, the reigning premiers missed an opportunity to climb as high as fifth.
But the Swans (6-8-1) could pay a heavier price for their inaccuracy with their finals hopes now teetering on the edge after a mid-season slump.
"The disappointing thing to come out of tonight is we didn't get ultimate reward for effort," Swans coach Longmire said.
"It could have been worse, we could have been sitting here without two points."
The Swans will hope to add spearhead Lance Franklin to their misfiring forward line when they face a must-win clash with Richmond on Thursday night.
Key defender Tom McCartin will also be pressing for a recall after a second hit out in the VFL, but Longmire refused to look too far ahead as he searched for positives from the draw.
"That first half we played some really good footy and we just didn't hit the scoreboard," Longmire said.
"Then we got eight points down and fought back, so it's a strange one, you don't know how to feel after games like that."
The Cats will be sweating on the review of a Brad Close tackle on Aaron Francis in the opening term when he wrapped up the Swans defender's arms and took him to ground.
Francis' head hit the turf on the way down and he took some time to get to his feet, but he played out the match and Longmire revealed that the first-year Swan seemed fine in the rooms post-game.
Australian Associated Press
