Albury have leaders North Albury in their sights after holding on for a dramatic win away to St Patrick's.
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The visitors were defending 191 after being awarded five penalty runs for the Patties' slow over rate.
And the chase went down to the penultimate ball of the match before Corey McCarthy bowled Josh Murphy to hand Albury the six points.
This result means they're now within one win of the Hoppers, who visit Billson Park in a top-of-the-table showdown next weekend.
"It's a great a result and another pressurised situation that we've come through," relieved Albury captain Ross Dixon said.
"With 10 or 12 overs to go, I knew we'd have to do something special to turn it around and we did.
![POP HIT: Albury opener Alex Popko looks to push a quick single on his way to 67 against St Patrick's at Xavier on Saturday. Picture: MARK JESSER POP HIT: Albury opener Alex Popko looks to push a quick single on his way to 67 against St Patrick's at Xavier on Saturday. Picture: MARK JESSER](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/131362666/06b070c5-b41c-48e9-93b5-8e115d2bb1a8.jpg/r0_89_2218_1479_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We got two wickets and it changed the game.
"We've had four or five close games this season and we've got over the line in most of them.
"I'm proud of the group and I said to them after the game that if we win next week, we can go top on percentage and that's what we're aiming to do."
Alex Popko (67) and Nat Sariman (45) gave the visitors a great platform when they put on 103 for the second wicket but Albury then collapsed from 2/132 to 186 all out, with Patties captain Dean Nicholson picking up superb figures of 5/19.
The home side lost two early wickets but the game turned when coach Liam Scammell joined Neil Smith in the middle.
Smith top-scored with 69 and Scammell made 44 in a stand of 105 but when Shan Bhaiya had Smith caught behind, Scammell fell to Hamish Mackinlay soon after.
![Luke Evans hits the crease for St Patrick's. Picture: MARK JESSER Luke Evans hits the crease for St Patrick's. Picture: MARK JESSER](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/131362666/4f656c6e-1671-458f-a7b7-e5940a3aef07.jpg/r0_0_2780_1853_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
St Pat's slumped to 7/136 but the tail wagged to set up a grandstand finish.
Angus Kilby added 15, Kori Stevenson blasted 23 from 11 balls and 15-year-old Murphy smashed a six at No.11 to keep the game alive, before McCarthy (3-37) won it for Albury at the death.
"We were in control and should have got maybe 220," Dixon said.
"That would have put them under real scoreboard pressure but it didn't.
"It didn't look like they were going to give us a chance but Shan came on for a second spell and bowled three overs for five or six.
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"He built the pressure and that led to a loose shot, which started a bit of a collapse.
"They needed 10 from the last three balls but Corey did what Corey does, which is win games of cricket for us."
Dixon said the captains had spoken about the issue of over rates at the toss.
"They had to bowl their overs by 3:05pm and that wasn't the case," he said.
"We might have won by four runs but if we were defending 186, I'd still back us to win that game."
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