The Dragons stayed on track for a top two finishing spot in the Group 10 minor premiership race in dreadful conditions at Carrington Park Bathurst on Saturday night.
Mudgee beat the Panthers who now have just seven weeks to solve their handling and concentration issues after another performance high on effort but low on execution in losing to Mudgee on Saturday evening in Group 10 premier league.
In fairness to both sides, the Dragons’ 24-16 win came in atrocious conditions tailor-made for poor handling.
However, a burst of points midway through the first half gave them a buffer that they simply did not relinquish despite the best efforts of Panthers in front of their home crowd at Carrington Park.
Coming off a win over Hawks and a narrow loss to St Pat’s, Panthers looked primed for a big performance when prop Brent Seager went over for the opening try before spectators even had time to take their seats.
However, their early lead did not take too long to evaporate as canny pivot Steve Lane began to find his range.
His combination with ‘Bubba’ Kennedy came to the fore once again as the veteran centre crossed the stripe.
John Freebody and Nathan O’Brien also went in as the Dragons opened up an 18-6 lead.
Things got worse for the home side with bookend Stan Latu leaving the field with a rib injury, and when Kurt Beahan latched onto a kick from Warick Colley the lead went out to 18 points.
With the siren looming it was left to captain-coach Dave Elvy to get his team back in the contest.
Elvy did just that, managing to create a half-break near the Mudgee line and slip a perfect ball to Aidan Bateup in support as the men in black went to the break trailing 24-12.
Elvy would have been looking for a big opening to the second 40, but what he got was more mistakes as his side simply could not maintain any possession or pressure on the Dragons, who themselves were having trouble with their hands.
Penalties also became an issue and Mudgee looked the side most likely to score through weight of possession and territory if nothing else, but Panthers continued to hang on in defence.
Lane looked to seal the match 20 minutes from time with a wayward shot at a field goal, and Beahan spilt the ball when he seemed certain to score and wrap up the result before Christian Luyks brought Panthers back to 24-16 when he hung onto an Elvy kick.
“I thought that was a real danger game for us, with Dave [Elvy] playing his last season here and coming off what was an ordinary year for Panthers last year. We expect them to be pretty fired up this year and putting everything into it, so a win here keeps us on track,” Dragons coach Peter Hickman said after the match.
“I’m happy with that performance - our defence was a lot better than it had been. In attack we have a lot of points in us, but the boys said the ball was like glass out there tonight, so we tried to concentrate on running from dummy half and playing simple football.”
Elvy was frustrated with his side’s inability to stay switched on for 80 minutes, but could not question the effort of his players.
“I was disappointed to lose but we won the second half, we just had that lapse for 15 minutes in the first half. We simply have to play 80 minutes of footy,” he said.
“In the second half we showed we can match them, we had players injured and the forwards worked overtime in poor conditions, so I’m proud of the performance in that sense.
“If we had have played like that in a few other second halves this year we would have won some more games, that’s for sure.”
MUDGEE DRAGON 24 (Kurt Beahan, William Kennedy, John Freebody, Nathan O’Brien tries; Warick Colley 4 goals) defeated BATHURST PANTHERS 16 (Christian Luyks, Brent Seager, Aidan Bateup tries; Ryan Drew 2 goals).
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