Newcastle Olympic coach Paul DeVitis hopes a 5-2 win over third-placed Maitland at Cooks Square Park on Saturday can prove the "kickstart" they need after a slow start in NPLW Northern NSW.
The come-from-behind victory moved sixth-placed Olympic, who were the 2020 premiers and champions and last year's second-placed side, to nine points and within striking distance of the top four as the competition approaches its midpoint.
The round-nine match was one of only two to go ahead over the weekend due to wet weather.
Second-placed Broadmeadow (19 points) drew 2-2 with Charlestown (13), fourth, at Magic Park on Friday night.
"I don't think we were desperate, the mood hasn't been like that," DeVitis said. "But we knew it was a very important game in relation to the table.
"Our goalkeeper Nat [Wiseman] got injured during the week at training so it was a little bit stressful in the lead-up to the game. We put our young under-17s keeper [Sienna Williams] in goals and she was fantastic.
"One of the things we spoke about was making sure we protect our box and we protect our keeper and we did that really well. We also scored some really nice goals, which has been coming. The confidence was really high in the sheds after the game and hopefully it can kickstart something."
Also encouraging was Jemma House's 25-minute performance off the bench.
The Jets striker and competition's two-time leading scorer missed Olympic's first seven games through injury but was at her menacing best on Saturday, harassing the Maitland defence to come up with a goal in the 83rd minute.
Maitland took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute when Sophie Jones headed into the net off a corner. Jade McAtamney equalised with a free kick in the 31st before Olympic teammate Paige Kingston-Hogg scored the first of her match brace when she finished from in front with a half-volley in the 38th.
Teenage talent Peyton Hamilton-Vosilla, in just her second first-grade appearance, put the hosts back on level terms with a close-range tap-in in the 47th but it was all Olympic from there.
Keea Parrish finished at the back post in the 61st then Kingston-Hogg caught Maitland on the counter-attack in the 72nd.
Magpies coach David Walker described it as "a bit of a wake-up call".
"It was well below of what I would expect of our standard performance," Walker said.
"We were very underdone in all areas and we just gave them way too many opportunities to be in the game. It definitely wasn't the level of football we need to be playing."
On Friday night, Azzurri's Nicki Jones produced a spectacular 90th-minute strike to secure a 2-2 draw with Magic in a see-sawing match.
The visitors struck first when Jenna Kingsley volleyed into the net from close range after a free kick in the 44th minute.
But Jordan Evans put Magic back on level terms in the 51st minute when she scored from the top of the box with a curling right-footed shot.
Lucy Kell gave the home side a 2-1 advantage in the 56th minute with an impressive long-range strike of her own and as the clock wound down Magic looked as though they might have done enough to bounce back from their first loss in almost 12 months.
That was until Jones struck from around 25 metres when the ball came out of the box from a Charlestown corner and the former W-League player buried it.
The match between Mid Coast and Warners Bay scheduled to be played in Taree on Saturday and the New Lambton-Adamstown clash at Alder Park on Sunday were postponed.
Points: Warners Bay 19, Magic 19, Maitland 15, Azzurri 13, Adamstown 10, Olympic 9, Mid Coast 0, New Lambton 0.
