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THE battle for the last remaining spot in the Buffalo Sports Premier League Finals Series is set to go down to the wire with all three contenders failing to win this weekend.

On Friday night Broadbeach and Palm Beach Sharks played out a 1-1 draw with Luke Glanz cancelling out Blake Buchanan’s first half opener for the Sharks.

Adam Hayward’s blistering 15th minute strike for Nerang was enough to see off Finals hopefuls Magic United who, along with Broadbeach, now nervously await the outcome of Palm Beach’s catch-up fixture against Surfers Paradise this Tuesday.

A win for Palmy will put them in the driving seat for fourth place going into the last round and all but mathematically eliminate Magic Utd, but Broadbeach Coach Simon Kalaba hasn’t given up hope just yet, predicting a late twist in the tale for the exciting last round.

“With Nerang beating Magic last night we’re only one win off Palm Beach with both of us having two games left. I don’t think we’re anywhere near out of it to be honest; there’s been so many twists in the last few weeks I don’t think it’s going to any different in the last two games,” Kalaba said.

He added: “If they [Palm Beach] slip up once then we’re right on it. I really think Surfers will give them a game on Tuesday night and after that we’ll know what we’re playing for."   

Last night’s defeat to Nerang has taken Magic United’s destiny out of their own hands and after a season that promised so much Brett Budwee’s outfit face almost certain elimination from the finals race.

“Palm Beach will have to lose to Surfers on Tuesday for our game against them next week to really mean anything for us,” said Budwee.

“It’s disappointing but this time last year we were fighting for relegation and this season I just wanted us to have a more enjoyable year where we weren’t worried about relegation. The fact that we’ve spent most of the time near the top is encouraging and I’ve taken more positives than negatives out of the season,” he declared.

The Premier League’s expansion to twelve teams next season sees the Division One winners and Runners-Up automatically promoted with the third-placed team taking on the bottom club in the Premier League over two legs for the right to play top flight football next term.

Coomera helped their cause with a fighting 0-0 draw with high-flying Burleigh Heads, leaving Mudgeeraba looking the more likely to walk the relegation tightrope after they lost a nail-biting battle against demotion rivals Surfers Paradise.

Josh Fiebig opened the scoring in the second half for Surfers but after Luke Bekut equalised for Mudgeeraba it took a late winner from Kiwi import Jason Hayne to seal the points for Surfers and guarantee their safety.

“It was a massive game in terms of the result not the performance and we got the result,” said a relieved Surfers Paradise Coach Keith Garland.

A draw for Coomera in their final fixture will be enough to condemn Mudgeeraba regardless of their own result due to Coomera’s vastly superior goal difference.

“Surfers were a bit more desperate than us but it still goes down to the last game and you never know,” said deflated Mudgeeraba Coach Marc Boelen.

The title could be decided today when leaders Gold Coast Knights take on third-placed Musgrave at Keith Hunt Park (Labrador). Kick-off is at 4.00pm and a win for John Stewart’s Knights will see them take out the Premiership crown.

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