Before the game, Saints sat on two points whilst Taree were on four, the loser would be guaranteed the bottom spot and the intensity of the match certainly showed there was a lot to play for.

At 3pm on Saturday the weatherman or woman was reporting temperatures of 17 degrees Celsius and winds up to 29 km/h - they weren't wrong as both sides fought hard in terrible conditions.

The potential for a physical match was clear within the first five minutes of the game as Saints' Corey Crotty and a Taree winger engaged in a push and shove with that battle a constant throughout the fixture.

Inside the first 20 minutes both sides had their chances but failed to capitalise as Taree received their first yellow card.

More pushes came in the 30th minute with a close free kick from Saints just missing five minutes later.

Just before half-time Taree received their second yellow card as both sides finished the half unable to break the deadlock despite numerous chances.

With Saints failing to dominate consistently throughout the first half, coach Kevin Sinclair's message was clear.

Stay ahead with local news by signing up for the Macleay Argus newsletter here.

"We just talked about how we'd only played about ten minutes of football, at times we'd linked the ball and got a passing game going that resulted in shots on goal so we just needed to do that more often," he told the Argus.

The team-talk worked perfectly as Saints came out firing, creating two chances in the first five minutes before Cedric Bloedorn ran straight through the middle of the Taree defence to put away a great finish.

Taree managed to match the attacking intensity two minutes later but keeper Jacob Lyttle was up to the task, pulling off three successive saves.

Three minutes later Taree had their third yellow card and in the 61st minute the VAR was probably required for a close Nick Wright chance.

Saints continued to pile on the pressure as Harry James, Nick Wright, Thomas Fletcher and Cedric Bloedorn created various opportunities.

The 83rd minute saw Taree receive their fourth yellow card and not long after the cries of a Taree attacker for a penalty near the box went ignored with the result finishing at 1-0 to give the Wildcats the dreaded wooden spoon.

The frustration for Taree was evident as a dispute continued between player and referee over the contentious free kick decision with another player taking his rage out on an off field object.

Sinclair was expecting a fiery contest from the get go and was happy to take the three points.

"We talked about it before the game, that's how they play and it'll be the same down there," he said.

"It's a win - it was certainly ugly, it's not the football we want to play and we have a long way to go to be competitive in Coastal Premier League but three points is three points."