After a sensational second-half effort in the final round of the regular season, the Trangie Magpies scored a hard-fought win over Gulgong Terriers in the weekend's Castlereagh League minor semi-final.
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In a match that will probably be remembered more for the inability of either side to treasure possession than anything else, the visitors came away with a deserved 20-12 victory at Billy Dunn Oval.
During the win the Magpies showed the same tenacity and spirit that they did the previous week when they came from 22 points down against Gilgandra to snatch a draw that secured a place in the finals.
The game opened up very much as an arm wrestle between the two sides which set the tone for the entire 80 minutes, but an intercept to Trangie half back Damian Bell opened the scoring in the ninth minute.
Not long after Gulgong's five-eighth James Morrison shrugged off a number of defenders close to the line and touched down to ensure a 6-all score and the Terriers went ahead soon after.
Halfback Kyle Alexander scooped up a dropped ball and strolled over from 10 metres out on 16 minutes and the simple conversion made it 12-6.
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Trangie's powerhouse hooker Braden Carney evened things up when he burrowed over from dummy half soon after and the remaining minutes of the first half saw the two sides go at each other with some degree of ferocity.
Despite that, there was no change on the scoreboard as any meaningful attack by either side was nullified by sloppy ball possession.
The second half saw little improvement in the ball handling department and while the two sides were there to play the game, as a spectacle it never reached any great heights.
However, the spirit and determination of the Trangie side cannot be denied and on the back of another bullocking converted try to Carney and a penalty goal, as well as some stoic defence, the Magpies came away with a win that sees them still very much alive in the quest for Castlereagh League premiership honours.
The Maggies will now play the loser of the highly anticipated major semi clash between the Coonabarabran Unicorns and the Gilgandra Panthers at Coonabarabran this Saturday.
A huge crowd is expected to be on hand to witness the action between these two time honoured arch rivals and while the Unicorns have won both encounters so far this year there has not been a lot between them, the winning margins being six points and four.
The action at Coonabarabran will kick-off at 11.45am with the youth league game between Coonamble and Cobar.
That will be followed by the league tag fixture featuring Baradine and Gilgandra, before the main first grade game takes centre stage.
