Confederates’ Bree Lippiatt’s eighth-minute strike was cancelled out by a Riley Miller winner four minutes later. It was followed by an end-to-end second period dominated by both sides’ show-stoppers, Kath Cox for Feds and Jess Luchetti for Panthers, who both starring during a scoreless final stanza.

Luchetti, particularly, was sensational, a full-stretch save nearing the final 10 minutes of the match on a well-worked Confederates short-corner bringing the small crowd that braved the freezing conditions to its feet.

Lithgow coach Dave Marshall said, like Feds, his Panthers outfit was down on numbers but veteran Cheryn Van Veen and Bonnie Goodsell helped lift the visitors to a result on the road. It was an important outcome for a side hunting for a spot in the top four.

“We had our opportunities but they played well in periods, too, a 1-all draw is probably a fitting result,” Marshall said.

“Points are a bonus up here, our goal was to hopefully get the win but for me that would have been a bonus, especially with the amount of people we had out.”