LEETON-Whitton coach Daniel Muir joked his players are "trying to change the colour of my hair" after they survived a late scare for a second straight week to hold off Osborne 5.9 (39) to 5.5 (35) at Osborne Recreation Ground on Saturday.
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In a frenetic finish, the Ostriches' Joel Mackie and Matt Rava were unlucky not to be awarded free kicks 25 metres out from goal seconds before the final siren.
Sections of the crowd and umpires were unable to hear the final siren when it sounded.
Osborne and Leeton-Whitton went toe-to-toe all day, with the Ostriches having their best chance of securing victory four minutes before full-time when Bill Alexander missed a set shot from 35 metres out.
The Crows , who now move to 4-1 and a share of top spot before next week's last round, also denied a late surge from Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong to win by five points last week.
You could forgive Muir for sporting a few more grey follicles after the past fortnight, but he said toughing out a tight win in atrocious conditions is good grounding for the bigger games ahead.
"It was always going top be hard conditions and as soon as you get hail coming in sideways, it makes it tough," he said.
"They (Osborne) dictated terms in the first half and they were there to win, they showed us how to play wet weather football. But I gave my boys a rocket and they responded which was good, and we held them out in the last bit.
"They kicked the last goal of the game and a couple of points after that, but it was a real test of character of our boys today to respond.
"(Midfielders) Lucas Meline and Jeromy Lucas were exceptional today, I think there was a few times there they forgot they were playing wet weather football."
- Ryan Grey was really good down back and started on Joel Mackie.
Osborne's late push to play finals ended in controversy when it suffered a gut-wrenching four-point loss to Leeton-Whitton at Osborne on Saturday.
"It could have gone either way but that's football," Mackie said.
"It was close all day and Leeton-Whitton are a very good side.
"I was just really proud of our boys effort today."
Elliott Powell suffered an ankle injury but was cleared of serious damage.
Leeton-Whitton 1.4, 1.5, 4.8, 5.9 (39) def Osborne 0.1, 2.2, 4.2, 5.5 (35)
GOALS: Leeton-Whitton - Bailey Wood 3, Nathan Ryan, Cooper Sharman; Osborne - Kodie O'Malley 2, Martin Bahr, Jack Driscoll, Joel Mackie.
BEST: Leeton-Whitton Crows - Lucas Meline, Jeromy Lucas, Ryan Grey, Joshua Thomas, Bailey Wood, Jake Wood; Osborne - Edward Perryman, Guy Ward, Connor Willis, Connor Galvin, Michael Driscoll, Ethan Weidemann
