Tidswell, a former Bathurst Bulldogs, Central West and NSW Country rugby star, was outstanding for the Magpies in the second row, eating metres on the right edge and scoring a try in the five point win to boot.

Despite battling with just 12 men for 20 minutes of the game, the Magpies fought back from 10-0 down to claim victory, their second win of the 2015 Group 10 premier league season.

“It was a really gutsy effort,” Cowra coach Steve Sutton said.

“They had a real crack at us on our line at 10-0. If it had gone to 16-0 it could’ve been a much different story.

“But we held out and did enough at the end to get home. The penny finally dropped for Hayden (Tidswell) today, he was monstrous.”

Hawks enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges, mounting pressure on the Magpies line which eventually resulted in prop Sam Coyte barrelling his way over to score 11 minutes into the clash. Cody Robbins added the extras to take the score to 6-0.

Both sides were down to 12 men shortly after when Cowra lock Ron Lawrence and Hawks second rower Lawrence Fogg were sin-binned after exchanging blows.

The hosts made the best of the shortage though, with five-eighth Matt Boss crossing two minutes later.

However, the two blues’ inability to stop Cowra offloading proved crucial as the visitors crossed twice in the last five minutes of the half through Josh Cooney and Aiden Craig, and while neither was converted the match was in the balance at 10-8 at half-time.

When Robbins produced a stunning, 90-metre effort straight after time, the floodgates looked likely to open.

But then the errors came.

Hawks continuously knocked on and gave away penalties at crucial times of the game, the first of which allowed Tidswell to burrow over from dummy-half, with Caley Mok’s conversion locking the scores up at 14-all.

Despite gifting Cowra possession and field position throughout the second period, the two blues found themselves on the attack after Brendan Tidswell was binned for lashing out with his elbow.

But, Hawks’ butterfingers continued, and Toi Sepuloni took advantage by nailing a field goal to give Cowra a one point lead with just seven minutes to play.

When two blues’ wingers Lachie Harris fumbled a kick over the dead ball line two minutes later, Cooney grabbed his second four pointer in the repeat set and sealed the 19-14 victory.

“It’s very disappointing, it’s just errors again,” Hawks captain-coach Brock McGarity said.

“There was positives, the talk was good and our defence was much better, particularly through the middle.

“We’ve got the bye next week, so we’ll have a big week and a hit out on Saturday to keep the legs ticking over, and hopefully come back better and grab a win.”

COWRA MAGPIES 19 (Josh Cooney 2, Aiden Craig, Hayden Tidswell tries; Caley Mok conversion; Toi Sepuloni field goal) def ORANGE HAWKS 14 (Sam Coyte, Matt Boss, Cody Robbins tries; Robbins conversion)