Everyone knew the Group 10 elimination semi-final clash between the Mudgee Dragons and Lithgow Workies was going to be a tough one.
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A quick thinking Lithgow side opened up the scoring which was ultimately the first of three tries to come in the first 20 minutes.
Five minutes after the Workies' trio of tries, Jared Robinson dove for four to get the ball rolling for the home side to bring the scoreboard to 16-4.
With a minute left on the clock until the half-time whistle, a determined Jack Beasley made something out of nothing, slicing straight down the middle of the Workies' defence to bring the half-time score to 16-10.
While Mudgee captain-coach Jack Littlejohn ensures he 'didn't have one of my sprays' during the half-time breather, the red and white outfit came out firing in the second installment of 40, scoring three tries in 12 minutes belonging to Robinson, Lee Hicks and Jayden Brown.
Not long after, Robinson went for his third of the day but suffered a blow to the head as a consequence which was followed by a conversion and penalty kick off the boot of Beasley, bringing the score to 32-16 Mudgee's way.
There were next to no indicators that Lithgow were giving up as the visitors placed a final set of three tries, interrupted by another belonging to Hicks, which brought the game to a 36-30 close.
"We came out firing in the second half," Littlejohn said.
"I just said to the boys that we needed to hold the ball because they've got big forwards, they couldn't put up with the heat so that's when we started rolling."
While happy with his side's performance, Littlejohn says a combination of poor discipline and confidence let Lithgow back into the game.
"We let them back into it through poor discipline and thinking that we had it wrapped up when we didn't, but it was good for the boys to fight and get away with a win like that going into next week," he said.
I'm sure they were all nervous when we were 16 down but it shows a lot of character to fight back and win.
- Mudgee Dragons captain-coach, Jack Littlejohn
Workies man, Ryan Jervis says allowing the handout from 'stupid penalities' is what gave the Dragons the victory.
"We shot ourselves in the foot, especially by giving away stupid penalities," he said.
"We had 80 minutes to do it and we couldn't get it done, can't blame us and can't blame them, that's just how it went."
Up against the Orange Hawks at Wade Park next Sunday (2.45pm kick-off) to fight for a grand final spot against the Bathurst Panthers, Littlejohn says there's no doubt in his mind it will be an action packed game.
"It'll be a good game, I think we're 1-all. I think we beat them the first round then they beat us the second time, it'll be a tough game," he said.
MUDGEE DRAGONS 36 (Jared Robinson 3, Lee Hicks 2, Jayden Brown, Jack Beasley tries; Harrison Maynard 2, Jack Beasley conversions; Jack Beasley penalty kick) def LITHGOW WORKIES 30
Jay-Anna Sleeman
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
