ORANGE Emus remain equal at the top of the Blowes Clothing Cup ladder after a come-from-behind win over Forbes on Saturday.
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In a game Emus' coach Andrew Logan described as "hectic", the greens reeled in a 17-12 half-time deficit to secure a 41-22 bonus point win over the Platypi.
Played at Forbes' Grinsted Oval, the hosts had the better of a first half in which Emus "did virtually nothing well".
Emus took the lead just thirty seconds after the break through Nas Havealeta before hooker Tom Goolagong was given 10 minutes in the sin-bin after a scuffle with Forbes skipper James King.
The Platypi failed to take advantage of the extra man though and Goolagong struck a huge blow to the hosts when he crossed immediately after returning to the field.
Emus captain Nigel Staniforth added the extras to give the visitors a 26-17 lead, before extending it to 29-17 with a penalty goal just minutes after.
Greens' winger Tom Green and flanker Alo Finau both crossed the stripe in the dying stages to extend Emus' unbeaten run to ten games.
"It was pretty hectic there for a while," Logan said.
"We were never really comfortable after we took the lead, it wasn't a real certain result until about the 70th minute.
"I'm really pleased to just grab a win at all. Forbes is a bit of a death valley for us, and to get a win by any margin over here is a big achievement for us.
"It was a bit breezy and we were against the wind for the first half, but the boys battled away and identified what we were doing wrong at half time.
"Playing badly isn't too disappointing for me as a coach, but players not knowing how to turn it around it. Our guys knew the two or three things we needed to improve on and did just that."
Logan highlighted halves pairing TJ Cunynghame and Adam Perri as standouts in the victory, along with Alo Finau and Tim Alison.
"Tom Goolagong was good for the most part too, except for the little hiccup with the sin-bin," Logan laughed.
ORANGE EMUS 41 (Carter Hirini, Tim Alison, Nas Havealeta, Tom Green, Tom Goolagong, Alo Finau tries; Nigel Staniforth four goals, penalty) def FORBES PLATYPI 22
