Marty Jeffrey's first goal of the Western Premier League season couldn't have arrived at a better time for Macquarie United.
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The striker has toiled without reward so far in 2021 and his own efforts had summed up Macquarie's season, with little to show for plenty of effort.
But on Sunday at No. 1 Oval Jeffrey fired the ball home deep into injury time to secure a much-needed victory for the Dubbo side.
The tense 3-2 win over Lithgow in round nine moved the Paul Crain-coached side into the all-important fifth spot heading into the long weekend's general bye.
"It went in and then the whistle went," Crain said of Jeffrey's goal.
"We just needed a little luck and luck hasn't been on our side this year but it was one of those things.
"Marty finished it off and he played well. He's been thereabouts all season but just hadn't netted one. He deserved it."
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Macquarie had earlier led 2-1 after another excellent free-kick from Justin Sutton and a Brad Matiuscenko strike.
Justin Pickering was shown a red card midway through the second half and while the hosts' performance didn't drop off despite being a man down Lithgow found a way to get back into the game and level it up.
Macquarie weren't content with a draw and applied a huge amount of pressure as the time ticked down and it finally paid with virtually the last kick of the match.
The result was welcome relief for the side after had not scored a win since recording two victories inside opening three rounds of the competition.
"That's a good reward for the guys who have been putting in the effort for the last three or four weeks," Crain said.
"We put a lot of pressure on them and the boys dug in and put a lot of effort in. I'm happy with the effort."
There had been better performances in recent weeks with a 3-all draw on the road against Panorama in Bathurst while Macquarie was also unfortunate to suffer a 2-1 loss to Barnstoneworth in their most recent match before Sunday.
Injuries have also hampered the side's chances of building momentum, with roughly 11 players having spent time on the casualty list at different times this season.
The coach has been forced to change things around - shifting Connor Crain from midfield to centre of defence has improved things - but the same lineup hasn't taken to the field in two successive weeks so far this season.
Players are getting closer to a return and that, combined with Sunday's win, provides a timely boost.
"We are confident in our ability," the coach said.
"There's never been any doubt about that and we're confident we can put it to any team.
"We're the only team to beat Bulls in the first round and they're coming second and had a tight game with (leaders) Waratahs on the weekend.
"There's a big split in the competition. You've got Tahs, Bulls, and (Orana) Spurs at the top and then there's big gap of six or seven points.
"We're in fifth spot now and we've got to beat teams around us and get points where we can so that's our goal for the second half of the season."