Cootamundra maintained their place in the top four with a thrilling win over Junee.
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Bouncing back from a disappointing loss to Brothers, the Bulldogs overcame an early deficit to claim a narrow win over at Les Boyd Oval on Sunday.
Junee led 16-4 during the first half before Cootamundra scored the last three tries of the game to make it five wins from their first seven games.
Coach Glen Buttriss was pleased with their defensive effort in the 22-16 victory.
“We bounced back well as really we were pretty poor against Brothers last week,” Buttriss said.
“They had a lot of attacking sets against us so for us to defend and hold the out the times we did were really pleasing.”
Buttriss was very disappointed in their performance against Brothers, but thought things were much better this time around.
Even though they gave Junee plenty of chances.
“We made it very hard for ourselves,” Buttriss said.
“Our discipline with the ball and defending was poor.
“We gave away a thousand penalties and didn’t do ourselves any favours with the ball and had plenty of errors ourselves so to hang in there to get the win was really pleasing.”
Despite trailing by 12 points in the first stanza, Buttriss thought there was a good feeling among the team.
After Matt Forsyth crossed the coach scored just before half-time to see to two teams locked at 16-all.
Trent Schubach then put the Diesels back in front with a penalty goal midway through the second half.
However the Bulldogs fired back with about six to play as Buttriss put Jordyn Ballard over for the winner.
Cootamundra had to sustain one desperate final attacking raid but their defence held strong for another win.
Round seven results now see the Bulldogs, Diesels and Southcity locked on 10 points, two adrift of leaders Brothers while a win clear of Tumut (eight), Kangaroos and Gundagai (both on six).
Buttriss believes there is still plenty of improvement in the side and he’s looking for them to be a bit more consistent.
“We need to be more consistent but we definitely have a more in us,” he said.
Jake Goodwin and Moe Clune were both strong in the win while Matt Forsyth was strong out wide.
However injuries could be a worry again.
Rob Tulenew and James Smith both suffered head knocks while Buttriss and Chris Maher picked up rib complaints.
