The Bay still improved on four seasons of incrementally finishing higher to claim the second rung for the first time after the round-robin phase as well becoming the best Bay franchise team to score the most points.
Like most football fans, Thursday night's result left him stumped: "We kind of expected one goal but not expect them to score three in the space of 25 minutes so it was pretty impressive."
While watching at QBE Stadium, it dawned on Hastings that Peverley was unlikely to miss the 2-2 equalising penalty kick in the dying minutes.
"Peverley was technically the best player I played against," he said of the former All White.
"It was pretty disappointing [that Peverley scored] but it was a clear-cut penalty."
Was the Bay franchise prepared to foot it at the O-League level, not just fiscally but mentally, had they qualified?
"It's a hard one. We were going into the unknown," he said, revealing the plan was to sit down with City and Wellington to give the Bay a notion of what they were getting into.
"We still don't know what it'll cost us," he said amid revelations from former O-League campaigners that it will cost no less than $150,000 just to compete, never mind the additional expense on resources.
However, Hastings said the 12-month breathing space to O-League kick off meant the Bay franchise was confident of meeting such demands.
He emphasised he and Walker had only served in their roles for several months and the club was growing, not just on the field but "holistically" as well.
"If we're given O-League, are we ready?
"That's a yes.
"Do we have the best resources?
"Maybe, maybe not but in 12 months we'd be ready to go to win it."
Bay player Tom Biss said yesterday a group of teammates watched the game at a Napier bar but he was at home.
"We're sitting here gutted and have got nothing out of the season," said the midfielder/striker who postponed his big OE to Europe to play last summer.
Biss said the players were proud to have made the other achievements for the franchise in what was overall an enjoyable season.
"I love playing for Hawke's Bay and have no regrets [postponing his big OE] having a good season with good bunch of lads," said the Bay-born player from Napier who fans are likely to see next season provided Angell has him in his equation.
Biss thanked the fans for their support but apologised on behalf of the team that "things didn't work out but hopefully they enjoyed watching us, too".
He echoed the sentiments of Hastings, saying it was imperative they went into the playoffs with their fate in their own hands.
"Over the course of the season between Hawke's Bay and Wellington we were the more competitive team but when a big game like the semifinal comes all the other stuff doesn't matter.
"We can't rely on others so we have to grab it with both hands and win for yourselves," said Biss who became striker after Hamish Watson left for the Phoenix.
Result: Auckland City FC 2 (Joao Moreira pen 68th, Daewook Kim 80th) Team Wellington 4 (Tom Jackson 52nd, 99th; Cole Peverley pen 88th; Ben Harris 94th) after extra time.
HT: 0-0. FT: 2-2.
