"We hit the fields early, we were warning up and we just got right into it and started really strong," Skinner said.

The Tigers had some struggles early in the season that Skinner believes were caused by a lax attitude off the field and some struggled during preparation.

"The last few weeks we haven't been doing the little things properly, these last few weeks we've been lethargic in the field and taking some really long periods to get into the game, but on the weekend we were straight into it," Skinner said.

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Skinner himself struck first with the ball, dismissing Macquarie veteran and bedrock batsman Jason Green for just two runs, with opening partner Ben Strachan caught for a duck by Dan Holland shortly after.

"I was surprised Greeny and Strachany both opened the batting, them and Myles Smith were the big wickets we were looking to get, we knew they were going to go reasonably hard, so we thought we'd be a good chance of taking them with the new ball," Skinner said.

"Swinging a little bit, it was just going to be a bit of head-clash where we saw who came out best, but luckily we picked both of the up for not that many."

The Tigers tight bowling constrained Macquarie to 111 runs, with Brenton Morgan the only batsman not to be dismissed from the field during Macquarie's stand.

An able opening 28 from Mitch Russo stabilised the Newtown Tigers run chase, with both Skinner and Dan Holland leaving for single digits shortly after.

Steve Skinner (30) and Lee Price (32) stepped in and contributed as well through their partnership, providing the numbers to topple Macquarie and dashing their hopes of playing in the finals this year.

Skinner applauded both Matthew Purse and Shubham Sharma for their efforts with the ball, noting how consistently the two options had been performing throughout the middle stretches.

Both took three wickets on Saturday to add to their overall total.

But the more consistent performance was only part of why Skinner had found the win so satisfying, with a semi-final berth now locked in for his Tigers.

Even with a double point win next week, and a loss for CYMS, Macquarie wouldn't be able to close the gap that now opens between them and Newtown in third, ensuring that the Tigers and Cougars will meet in the semi-final.

"You never want to be in that position of having to win in that final round and also hoping for another team to lose, that's just never ideal, so I was really glad we went out there and took our fate into our own hands and made sure it stayed there," Skinner said.

The Tigers will meet South Dubbo next week in the final round, before playing CYMS in the semi-final for a chance at meeting RSL Colts.