Coach Craig Atkins felt Warners Bay "got our fight back" in a 1-0 win over Maitland in the fourth round of NewcastleHerald Women's Premier League at John Street Oval on Sunday.
The Magpies started the stronger of the two teams and looked the more likely to score in the opening 30 minutes of the entertaining encounter.
But the Panthers finished on top and found the winner in the 57th minute through Mattiese Loretan.
"There have been games where we've just been a little bit too soft but the fight was back today and that was one of the big things I'm going to take out," Atkins said post-match on Sunday.
"I thought the ball movement was next level as well. We finally started getting those little combinations happening and some of the movement was quality. It was a good all-round performance because Maitland had us on the ropes a little bit in that first half.
"It's good because we're getting back to where we need to be. We've still got a lot of improvement but it's exciting that those things are coming."
The Panthers were put under enormous early pressure. Warners Bay goalkeeper Ally Boertje produced an athletic save to tip Emily Wicks' shot from outside of the box over the bar around the 15-minute mark.
Maddison Gallegos headed the ball over the bar off a corner around five minutes later. Boertje parried away a bullet from Bronte Peel around the 25th minute and Emmeline Pepper put the rebound just wide of the goals.
Shortly after, Mercedes Mcnab hit the right post with a shot.
Warners Bay's best chances of the first half were long-range efforts either off target or straight to Magpies shot-stopper Imogene Tomasone, who made her first appearance in Herald WPL since being part of New Lambton's championship-winning side in 2019.
The match remained scoreless until Maitland centre-back Kaitlin Radstaak was unable to control the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box in the 57th minute and Loretan pounced to fire it into the top right corner of the Magpies' net.
The Panthers' attacking raids kept coming and at full-time Maitland coach Keelan Hamilton was left ruing what could have been from the WPL newcomers.
"It's a story of missed chances and then an error," Hamilton said. "To be fair to Warners Bay they out-enthused us, which disappoints me a little.
"I thought they were much more energetic than us. I thought the first 30 minutes we were the better side and it should have been three-nil. It should've been game over, and then they got themselves right into it and started to work a lot harder than us.
"It's the story of what we've been at the minute. We've done some good things, we've created some good chances in the first half, but we're not consistent enough for long periods and we've still got errors in our game at this point that we're getting punished for."
Jemma House scored a hat-trick as Newcastle Olympic downed Mid Coast 6-0 at Darling Street Oval in the other game played on Sunday.
Olympic led 3-0 at the break and coach Harmonie Attwill was pleased to see her side not only creating chances but finishing them. Jade Mcatamney produced a double and Keea Parrish also got on the scoresheet.
Adamstown beat Azzurri 2-1 at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Saturday night.
Leia Puxty gave Rosebud a 1-0 lead at half-time. Azzurri levelled midway through the second half through Jess Gentle before Ellyse Lynch found the winner from range.
Ash Brodigan scored a hat-trick as league leaders Broadmeadow continued their unbeaten start to the season with a comfortable 7-0 win over New Lambton at Magic Park on Friday night.
Round 4 results:
Broadmeadow 7 (Ash Brodigan 3, Nadja Squires 2, Kalista Hunter, own goal) beat New Lambton 0 at Magic Park on Friday night. Half-time: Magic led 4-0.
Adamstown 2 (Leia Puxty, Ellyse Lynch) beat Azzurri 1 (Jess Gentle) at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility on Saturday night. Half-time: Adamstown led 1-0.
Warners Bay 1 (Mattiese Loretan) beat Maitland 0 at John Street Oval on Sunday. Half-time: 0-0.
Newcastle Olympic 6 (Jemma House 3, Jade Mcatamney 2, Keea Parrish) beat Mid Coast 0 at Darling Street Oval on Sunday. Half-time: OIympic led 3-0.
Pointscore: Magic 12, Olympic 9, Adamstown 7, Warners Bay 6, Maitland 3, Azzurri 3, Mid Coast 1, New Lambton 0.
