Stefany and Neville Frost looked down and out when Art Vernon (Christchurch) and Jim Berryman (Nelson) led 11-4 and only needed two more points to win the game.
But the Dunedin husband and wife team went into their box of tricks and pulled out a miracle to win the Masters Games final 13-11 at the Caversham Petanque Club.
Stefany (58), a clinical psychologist, conducted a refresher course the previous week.
"It reminded me that the top two inches count in sports competitions." she said.
The Frosts started playing petanque at the 2006 New Zealand Masters Games.
"We accidently entered the open competition and got a bronze medal in the bowl," Stefany said. "To win a gold medal in the championship final three Games later is pretty exciting."
Vernon gave his team the initiative when he killed the end with four boules left in his pocket to take a 9-4 lead.
It was part of a three-end purple patch when his team jumped from a 5-3 deficit to an 11-5 lead.
This was when Stefany applied her psychological principles.
"I told Neville not to worry about the score and just focus on playing a really good end," Stefany said. "That's what we did and we ended up getting six."
The Frosts had two boules on the head and Neville pushed out Vernon's third counting shot and had the chance of adding to their count.
"We had dominated that end and the opportunity was there for us to pick up quite a few points," Neville (61), the corporate services manager for Dunedin Venues, said.
They had two shots and, when the opposition boule was taken, out two more were added to the count. Neville then demonstrated the skill that catapulted him into the New Zealand seniors team last year by drawing two bonus shots.
The scores were level at 11-11 and both sides had the chance to win the gold medal.
Stefany recognised the danger for the Frosts after the big end.
"The adrenalin flows and teams in that position often muck up on the next end," she said.
She took Neville aside and they both took time out to relax and calm down.
"It was 11-11 and we didn't want to muck it up after having clawed our way back, " Stefany said.
Berryman put his boule close to the cochonnet to put pressure on the Frosts.
Neville made a direct hit to take out the shot boule. He needed just one more shot to win the game.
"I knew I had to be accurate so I really focused on it," Neville said.
Neville was a competitive veteran runner with the Hill City club but was forced to give up the sport 12 years ago because of knee problems.
"I'm naturally competitive and wanted another sport to challenge me," he said.
He is also a skilled at bridge.
In the plate final between two Dunedin teams, Merv Wilson and John Gibson beat Aileen Simpson and Beverley Kendall 13-11.
The bowl final was won by Dunedin's Phillip Lyall and Catherine Thomas who beat Timaru father and daughter Don and Annemarie Rutherford 13-6.
