The Magpies fought back valiantly in the second half of their game against Nyngan, but could not fully recover from their first half.
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Magpies eventually went down 34-30 when Nyngan scored on the bell, but they had made a significant comeback from their 24-10 half-time lag.
Captain coach Jake Grace said he was proud of the way the first grade side had rallied in the second half.
“We had a poor start … our whole first half was a bit ordinary,” Grace said.
“Our defence wasn’t good enough, we let too many points.”
That’s not to detract from Nyngan’s performance, Grace said “they played a lot of good footy on us.”
Grace said the Magpies knew at the half time break what they needed, and it was mostly a change in attitude.
“The boys were good enough to change that and played a really good second half, I was very proud,” Grace said.
“We were actually up by two points with 18 minutes to go and defended our line the best I have seen.
“The amount of defence we had to do on our line, it was relentless.”
A few handling errors stopped the Magpies from adding enough points to keep Nyngan out when the Tigers scored at the end of the game.
Key absences from the first grade line-up were Zac Merritt and Martin Herbert, but Grace says the club has enough depth to cater for that.
“Whoever steps up, I am 100 per cent confident that they can do the job,” he said.
“Anyone putting on that jumper is good enough to be there.”
Herbert, who has been a key player for the Forbes side this season, is expected to be out for a few weeks with injury.
The Magpies are now preparing to host Maquarie next week and are ramping up their preparations.
“They will be a side who will keep on coming and we need to be 100 percent,” Grace said.
League tag: Nyngan 16 Forbes 12
Reserve grade: Nyngan 42 Forbes 20
Under 18s: Forbes 32 Nyngan 12