The Canowindra Pythons and Molong Magpies met on a deceivingly sunny yet cold Autumn day in Molong, both teams answering each try in a tenacious battle for control of the field.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
With solid plays all through the first half and skilful conversions against the wind, the Pythons earned their place at the end of the first half.
However, the home side fought back and managed to score two tries to close the gap, with the Pythons digging deep and looking down the barrel of a one point gap with five minutes to the end of time.
With the Magpies stalling and holding their lead, a penalty was awarded in favour of the Pythons.
The penalty kick taken by Tye Ashe sealed the gap - with the Pythons clawing their way to victory with a 34-32 win in the very last moments of the game.
"It wasn't an easy kick either - Tye Ashe hasn't kicked goals for 13 years and just stepped up and said 'I'm doing it'" said coach Tom Roth, who has seen the team go from strength to strength in their recent games.
"Molong have been the benchmark of the competition for the last 10 years, we hadn't beaten them for 10 years."
Roth believes the Pythons have a strong chance to continue their winning run.
"There's a lot of clubs with similar points on the ladder, we have Wellington next. "
"Since beating Trangie, the boys have been playing good footy. Everything is clicking, we're gelling really well together now."
With a number of key players out, Roth noted the players who kept the team on the right path.
"Andy Townsend, If he wasn't on the field this weekend, we wouldn't have won," Roth said.
Craig McKenzie won Player's Player, with Roth saying the returning player made a significant contribution to the whole game, as well as the team's overall cohesion.
"If we got loose, he'd be back on the field and steer the ship. Between him and Daniel Bowd, they both kept us going in the right direction."
"I'm confident we'll have our strongest team from here on out. We did suffer some injuries, but we were fortunate to pick up players as well."
Playing the Redbacks in Wellington next, Roth believes the team is headed in the right direction.
