Forbes Magpies have overcome an early 12-0 deficit to keep their Group 11 under 18s season alive, beating Dubbo Macquarie 30-24 on Saturday.
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Magpies winger Tom Williams scored a hattrick to help his team as they looked to bounce back from a heartbreaking 17-16 loss to Nyngan the previous week.
In front of a large crowd at Caltex Park, the Raiders took an early lead before Forbes worked their way into the game.
Goal kicking was the difference at half-time with Dubbo leading 18-12 despite both teams scoring three tries.
Blaine Fernando and Dennis Allan-Peckham scored the first tries for the Raiders before Williams and Farren Lamb hit back for the visitors to make it 12-8 in Macquarie’s favour.
The teams traded tries before the break, Kane McDermott crossing for the Raiders and Williams getting his second for Forbes.
The Magpies levelled the scores soon after the break through Jaiden Burke and Williams then put his team in front, before McDermott’s second saw the scores locked again with 10 remaining.
The winning try came three minutes from full-time when Izaac Scott burst over.
The Raiders had a good chance to hit back, but Fernando had the ball knocked out of his hands as he raced for the tryline, bringing their season to an end.
FORBES MAGPIES 30 (Tom Williams 3, Farren Lamb, Jaiden Burke, Izaac Scott tries; Warren Baxter 2, Mathew Malloy goals) defeated DUBBO MACQUARIE 24 (Kane McDermott 2, Blaine Fernando, Dennis Allan-Peckham tries; Luke Gale 4 goals).
In senior league Forbes are confident they have what it takes to match Group 11 frontrunners Dubbo CYMS and Nyngan Tigers after an impressive performance against Dubbo Macquarie on Saturday.
The Magpies will now look to earn a spot in the grand final in the preliminary final at Parkes next Sunday and Magpies manager Cameron Greenhalgh said they liked their chances.
“Nyngan and CYMS have been good. We haven’t beaten CYMS and had a win and a loss against Nyngan.
“Whoever we play, it’s going to be tough and we need to be 10 per cent better against one of those sides,” he said.