'We win five games from now, we win the premiership': Maitland kick clear

The Magpies came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with third-placed Charlestown (33 points) at Lisle Carr Oval on Tuesday night to move one point clear at the top of the standings on 38 points.

The rescheduled match followed a Herculean effort to draw 2-2 with then joint leaders Newcastle Olympic (37 points) on Saturday after losing first-choice goalkeeper Anabella Thornton to a red card in the opening five minutes.

"We probably give [Azzurri] two goals unfortunately, but to the credit of our group they showed extremely good resilience and a lot of courage to fight back in the second half," Hamilton said.

"Given we played 85 minutes with 10 players on Saturday against a really difficult opponent then had to back up on Tuesday without our goalkeeper and come back from two goals down, I'm really proud of the players' efforts."

NPLW leading scorer Bronte Peel scored twice in the second half, first with a spot kick in the 53rd minute after teammate Georgia Amess was fouled in the area then from the left top corner of the 18-yard box in the 65^th minute.

The brace cancelled out easy first-half tap-ins from Ella Joyce and Sarah Halvorsen after shot-stopper Alex Tagaroulias failed to deal with initial shots.

Maitland made NPLW finals for the first time last year, bowing out to Olympic in the preliminary final.

They should bank another three points at home to last-placed Mid Coast on Saturday before meeting Azzurri (33) again on August 3 followed by back-to-back games against New Lambton (22) and a last-round exchange with Adamstown (21).

"We've just got to win our games," Hamilton said.

"I said to the girls last night, we win five games from now, we win the premiership. That's as simple as it is.

"We always want to get three points but the point last night and the point on the weekend are two really good points in tough circumstances, so I'm really proud of the players and their conduct and how they're approaching their football."

New Lambton were set to play seventh-placed Warners Bay (six) on Wednesday night.