Lambton Jaffas coach James Pascoe took away plenty of positives from 2019 after his side bowed out 5-1 on aggregate to Edgeworth in the NNSW NPL semi-finals on Saturday.
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With a 4-1 edge from the first leg at Jack McLaughlan Oval, the Eagles had little trouble holding out an understrength Jaffas 1-0 at Edden Oval to qualify for a fifth consecutive decider.
Edgeworth had chances late on Saturday as the Jaffas pushed numbers forward. Oliver Smith capitalised, earning a penalty and stepping up to convert in the 90th minute. Brad Swancott, playing his final game as the club's No.1 keeper, stopped the penalty but the rebound fell to Smith, who scored with his second shot.
The Jaffas hit the crossbar once and Josh Sutton was wide with a shot, but they gave Edgeworth few other scares with a side missing six starters through injury.
"I think we can look back on it as a pretty good year for the Jaffas," Pascoe said.
"We finished second, we picked up four more points than last year, we had the best goal difference, the golden boot [Braedyn Crowley], Swanny and Ben Kennedy shared the most clean sheets, and we accelerated the development of a core group of young boys who are going to be really good for us for the next few years.
"Even though it petered out the last two weeks, I think we'll look back on the year pretty positively."
Jaffas defender Liam O'Dell played through a suspected displaced rib.
The Eagles take on Maitland in the decider next Sunday at Magic Park. Edgeworth won the 2015 and 2016 grand finals but have lost the past two, to Jaffas and Broadmeadow.