The Gilgandra Panthers showed why they lead the way in the 2017 Christie and Hood Castlereagh League competition with a dominant win over the Gulgong Terriers at Billy Dunn Oval on Saturday.
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The visitors proved too strong for the now third placed Terriers when they registered the 48 to 10 win, much to the disapproval of a strong Terrier’s Old Boys contingent who were in attendance.
Slick hands saw the visitors get on the scoreboard in the second minute when their youthful winger George Alchin went over in the corner, and within another 16 minutes he had touched down twice again and the Panthers were up 16 to nil.
The Terriers weren’t shirking it in any way, which was evidenced by the physicality of the game, but their many attacking raids were turned back by some strong defence by the Panthers, particularly on their own goal line, and that was a telling factor in the scoreboard reading 26 to nil in favour of Gilgandra at half time.
It wasn’t until the 55th minute of the match that Gulgong finally got onto the scoreboard when Brad James was able to force his way over in the corner, the Panthers being a player down at the time with one in the bin.
In fact Gilgandra ended up playing the last 22 minutes with only 12 players as they had one sent off for not speaking so nicely to the referee, but in the end they came away with a sizeable victory over opposition that never chucked it in.
With just four rounds of the regular season the race to the semi finals is on.
The Panthers lead the way at the head of the competition ladder - undefeated after 15 rounds on 30 competition points and with a six point buffer to Coonamble - just one more win will guarantee their premiership defence begins with a home major semi final.
The Terriers have a comfortable buffer in third.
The pecking order below is not so clear cut, it might be mathematically difficult for some but all except Trangie and Coolah remain in the hunt for a semi final berth.
Christie and Hood Castlereagh League Round 15 results:
Gilgandra 48 defeated Gulgong 10
Trangie 58 defeated Coonabarabran 30
Dunedoo 62 defeated Coolah 6
LADDER – Gilgandra 30, Coonamble 24, Gulgong 22, Baradine 18, Coonabarabran 17, Dunedoo 16, Trangie 13, Coolah 6.
League Tag:
Warren 26 defeated Coonamble 12
Gilgandra 40 defeated Gulgong 0
Trangie 24 defeated Coonabarabran 16
LADDER – Dunedoo 26, Warren 24, Gilgandra 23, Coonamble 22, Baradine 21, Coonabarabran 12, Trangie 12, Gulgong 6.
Youth League:
Gulgong 25 defeated Gilgandra 0.