Canterbury Tactix farewelled their home town fans with heart palpitations when beating Central Pulse 50-49 in extra time in a trans-Tasman netball championship match in Christchurch tonight.
In their last home game with three of 14 rounds left in the ANZ Championship, the Tactix were held 41-41 by the Pulse at the end of regular time.
That forced an additional 14 minutes of play and it was only in the dying seconds that the Tactix scored the winning goal over the Wellington-based Pulse.
Amazingly it was the second time in the competition that the two sides had gone to extra time to decide the winner.
In their seventh round match at Palmerston North last month, they finished 43-43 after regular time with Tactix prevailing 55-50 after extended time.
For the Pulse, bottom of the league ladder, it was a loss they can take great heart from.
They were down 8-14 at the end of the first quarter and looked anything but winners. They struggled to get the ball to the goal shooters and their all-round game was flat.
At halftime, they had staged something of a revival to be down 16-24 but it was hardly evidence they would take the game right to the final whistle.
In the third quarter they somehow clawed their way back to win it 13-11 but still remained down 29-35 on the scoreboard.
Heading into the final quarter, it was a case of the further it went, the closer the Pulse got and with little more than a minute remaining, the score had levelled at 40-40.
Both sides scored a goal apiece in the final minute of regular play but passes went astray as desperation crept in.
In extra time, the Tactix appeared to take control when they led 47-43 at the end of the first spell.
But the Pulse fought back yet again to have the game tied at 49-49 with less than half a minute to go before the Tactix scored the winning goal in final few seconds.
Tactix captain Julie Seymour paid tribute to the Pulse's defence.
"We just couldn't get our timing and our flow. They are strong defensively," Seymour said on Sky Television.
"We just got hesitant passing the ball round."
Pulse captain Francis Solia said the defeat represented a much improved performance on recent games.
"Although we didn't win, we at least rectified what happened in the past two performances -- they weren't out best," Solia said.
"I think today we were getting closer to putting out our best performance."
For the Tactix, Rachel Dunn was solid with 28 goals from 35 attempts while Anna Thompson scored 16 from 25 and Ellen Halpenny six from 10.
Susan Tagicakgibau shone for the Pulse with 21 goals from 26 attempts while Jamilah Gupwell slotted 24 from 33 shots. Amber Bellringer had four goals from eight shots.
Earlier today the New South Wales Swifts and the Queensland Firebirds fought out a thriller with the Swifts winning 61-60.
It was the Swifts' seventh win to take them to second equal on the league ladder with 14 points.
They share second with the Adelaide Thunders who yesterday pipped the Auckland-based Northern Mystics 48-47 in Auckland. They had been tied 26-26 at halftime.
Round 11 is completed with two games tomorrow night.
First up the Otago-Southland side of Southern Steel will be desperate to improve their mid-table position against Perth-based West Coast Fever.
The second game sees competition leaders Waikato-Bay Of Plenty Magic up against the Melbourne Vixens in Melbourne.
