Mount Maunganui experienced a drastic change of fortune in the third round of the premier Baywide rugby competition.
The side, which ran Rangataua down in a thriller in the previous round, was cruising late in the second half at home against Rotoiti before surrendering 17 points in 11 minutes to lose by a solitary point.
The 28-27 scoreline looked a near impossibility midway through a second half that the Mount had dominated three tries to nil after trailing 8-6 at the break.
But then Wayne Ormond took the field.
The 35-year-old Ranfurly Shield winning captain of yesteryear was back, leading his men directly up the field against an opposition that had ceased to play.
With precious little time remaining, he scored a typically physical try and inspired another, before second five-eighth and former New Zealand Maori representative Willie Ripia had a shot from 40m on the angle with time expiring to steal an unlikely victory.
Mount supporters cheered as the kick sailed to the right, but those cries soon turned to despair as a knock-on and confusion in the goal area led to the ball being played in an offside position.
Ripia calmly slotted the resulting penalty kick on the referee's whistle to cement Opotiki a place in the top four.
Rotoiti coach Kevin Lee hailed the impact that a bench led by Ormond had on the match, as well as the influence of some of the younger members of the squad.
"When they got the three tries right at the start of the second half we had to do something to even things up," said Lee.
"I thought a little while into the second half that we were dropping off, but the new guys coming on lifted everybody and we came away with it.
"The biggest thing with our team is the 17 and 18-year-olds we have. We had five playing today and another is injured. They were supposed to be playing Colts but since we don't have a Colts team they have been playing with us.
"I'm really pleased with the effort alongside the older guys."
Mount coach Rodney Voullaire was philosophical after the loss.
"It happens, I guess we weren't meant to win today. It was a difficult end to it, but great rugby from both sides. Hands up for Rotoiti coming back like that, it was brilliant."
He was clearly buzzing about the form of new Steamers signing Yohan Bardoul, who had a monster of a game for the home side
The former captain of Hamilton Old Boys stepped, offloaded and ripped the ball out of contact at will, and scored a try that looked to have sealed the win.
"He's an animal. We lose a top guy like Luke Braid out of the area and then you've got a guy like that coming through. It's all positive for the Bay with a guy like that around," said Voullaire.
"There's some pretty big things ahead for him, he's definitely on his way to higher honours.
"Not many people pass up a Waikato contract to sign with the Bay so we are really fortunate that he is here with us."