It was a mixed bag of results as the senior football season drew to a close, with Devon Homes Wanganui Athletic bowing out of the Central League qualifiers in a 5-0 defeat to Stop Out.
Meanwhile Wanganui City cruised home to 4-1 win over the Palmerston North Marist thirds in the Western Premiership on Saturday.
It's always hard to find positives from a sound defeat, but Wanganui Athletic felt that they had left everything on the park and brought nothing home.
"We played much better than the previous week," said player-coach Troy Smith after Athletic failed to qualify for the Central League. "We played our style of football in parts and I cannot fault the efforts of our players. Although the score was disappointing, we played as a team and competed well."
Going out of the playoff race on a 9-0 aggregate loss, the home-and-away series clearly showed the divide between where Wanganui senior football sat and where the talent in the region should get.
Having not conceded a defeat through the Federation League, the lads in red can still be proud of their achievements in Central Football's premier competition.
Athletic will now look to 2015 and lay plans to mount their challenge for a Central League berth next year.
The key to this success should be a focus on securing the services of a management team and retaining key players - with sources noting already several of the Athletic squad have been approached by clubs from surrounding regions hoping to steal away the talent from the local club.
Wanganui City will also be planning for a 2015 tilt at Central League, after receiving their Western Premiership trophy on the weekend.
The ceremony came on the back of an entertaining match between City and the Marist thirds on Wembley Park.
City soon got into their usual style of play, moving the ball quickly and using the wide surface of Wembley to great effect.
Dylan Howells was rewarded for his efforts at the attacking end, getting to start in a striking role and being used largely as a target man for City's attack.
The big man showed he is more than just a stoic defender by making clever runs to get behind the defence.
He used his solid frame to hold the ball up and provide good delivery for his attacking partners.
While Howells had a good stint at the front, it wasn't long before the nose-bleed set in.
City coach Kelvin Francis made the decision to return him to the defensive line, where his first touch was a typically dominant clearance of the ball.
City had an early scare as Marist, looking a much more settled and attacking side than earlier in the competition, went 1-0 up.
It came through a beautifully timed run from Marist's usual Central League goalkeeper, Gurkarnvir Singh.
Singh, who hails from Wanganui, bent his run along the defensive line, and latched himself onto the end of a well-timed through ball, beating the keeper with his shot, and wheeled away in celebration as only a goalkeeper who has scored can do.
Not long after, goals from Chris Annabell and captain James Satherly put City back on the right track approaching halftime.
The second half was much of the same, with Marist creating good opportunities but ultimately unable to convert them, whereas City's Jake Lockett had no trouble doing so.
A brace of goals for Lockett set the score at 4-1, as both teams continued to battle for the remaining minutes, before the referee whistle ended what has been a spectacular run for the blue-collar boys.
Coach Kelvin Francis was buoyant after the match and praised his side for keeping to the game plan, notching another win in an undefeated season to finish a massive 13 competition points clear of their nearest rival.
Francis remarked how it had been a good 2014 for the club, with their Premiership complimented by the City Hammers taking out the local league title, while their youth sides also claimed wins or strong finishes.
City will now look to 2015 plans to field a side in the Federation League, with Francis aiming to convince the club to also have a development side in the Western Premiership - giving their younger players a nursery to develop skills, support the Federation League squad and give the club some depth.