The Magpies, already with Andrew Swan and Matt Comerford gone for the season with knee injuries, lost Ryan Clarke (hamstring) in the warm-up and Liam Thornton (calf) nine minutes into Saturday's elimination semi-final at Lisle Carr Oval.

However, they led in the 59th minute when Braedyn Crowley finished one-on-one off a through ball from Mat Swan, who himself was returning from injury.

Kane Goodchild was the hero for Azzurri in regular time, showing skill close to goal to score the equaliser in the 79th minute, just after coming off the bench.

Goodchild, though, made the decisive miss in the penalty shoot-out after the score remained 1-1 at the end of regular and extra-time.

Joel Wood gave Maitland the edge, converting the first penalty, before Goodchild cannoned his shot into the crossbar. Sean Pratt, Matt Tull, James Thompson, Zac Lloyd and Carl Thornton converted their chances before Kev Davison scored with an outrageous Panenka penalty.

Retiring keeper Matt Trott came out of goals to take the next shot for Maitland and he made no mistake, giving the Magpies a 5-3 win on penalties. Later, Broadmeadow beat Olympic 3-1 at Magic Park in the qualifying semi-final to set up a major semi-final meeting with premiers Edgeworth.

Maitland will have to regroup to face Olympic, who came through their loss unscathed.

Bolch said Clarke and Thornton were likely to miss the game and Crowley was in doubt after injuring his hamstring. The leading scorer finished the match but was unable to take a penalty.

Bolch said the injury was not cramp.

"Crowley probably should have come off with half-hour to go after hurting his hammy," Bolch said. "We'll see how he goes this week.

"I'd say [Clarke and Thornton] will be out and Crowley will probably strap himself up and do everything to play."

Adding to the losses was a serious ankle injury to Ben Martin in reserve grade on Saturday. Martin was promoted to the top squad as an injury replacement just last week.

Maitland's reserve grade also won through on penalties, against Adamstown, meaning Bolch's selection options will be limited for the trip to Darling Street Oval.

However, he was buoyed by the performances of Sam Webb and Joey O'Connor, who came on for Clarke and Thornton.

"As far as character and backs-against-the-wall stuff, that's the best win I've been involved with in five years," he said. "Even if those players are out next week, there are some good young boys coming through the club. Sam Webb and Joey O'Connor were outstanding for us.

"Dylan [Bozinovski] had a good game and I thought Zach Thomas and Trotty were outstanding. That's probably the best game I've seen Zach have for us."

Azzurri coach Graham Law, in his first season at the club, praised the effort of Maitland and said he was proud of his players this year to finish fourth after losing their first three games.

"Fair play to Maitland," Law said. "We came into the game as healthy as we've been all year and they were probably the opposite. They dug in, they were compact in defence and did really well."

At Magic Park, Jarred Baker (45^th minute), Sam Walker (73rd) and Mitch Rooke (78th) scored for the hosts. Dino Fajkovic gave Olympic a consolation goal in the 90^th minute.

Broadmeadow coach Anthony Richards said Baker (foot), Jon Griffiths (calf) and Ryan Ensor (cramp) came off early but he expected them to play next week.

Olympic coach Alex Tagaroulias rued missed chances from his side, especially a one-on-one opportunity before Baker's stunning long-range strike to open the scoring.