AUSTRALIAN RULES
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THE Central West AFL under 18s side have come away with a historic maiden win over the Northern Riverina representative outfit in their clash in Hillston on Saturday.
A goal to Orange's Tristan Degn in the dying minutes put the Central West team ahead by three points, a margin they were able to maintain until the final siren to snare the win 11-8-74 to 10-11-71.
Some poor kicking in the first term from Northern Riverina meant that they didn't build the sort of scoreboard pressure that their general play could have warranted, and it came back to haunt them in the end.
"They missed a few sitters in that opening quarter and could have built a lead, but it didn't happen and we were able to take advantage," Central West manager, Bathurst's Tony Fisher said.
"We had led for basically the whole game, but never by any great distance and going into the last quarter, we were still only up by a kick or so and it was very much up for grabs.
"With about three and a half minutes to play they got a clearance through the centre and one of their players just went straight through us and kicked a goal on the run from about 40 metres to put them in front.
"We managed to get the ball forward, and with a bit over two minutes on the clock, Tristan Degn snuck one through and we held on from there."
There were a number of Bathurst players in the side, with Bushrangers juniors Tim Thomas, Sam Flude, Pat Fisher and Michael Long all featuring.
Bathurst Giants players Brody Field, Josh Broes and Luke Macauley were also part of the side.
Fisher bagged three goals along with Orange's Brady Bennett, while Degn finished with two.
"It was the first time that age group has beaten them, which is a good sign for the sport around here. There were a couple of Cowra kids in the side too which is great considering they haven't got an under 18s team this year," Tony Fisher said.
"The Bathurst boys played well. Michael Long was outstanding in the centre, our middle in general was very strong.
"Tim Thomas was strong in the back line and held their full forward while giving us plenty of run. Sam Flude didn't get a lot of game time, but was relatively productive while he was on.
"Pat played as a sort of deep forward pocket and was there to crumb off Brady Bennett, who was our main target up forward.
"The Giants boys all did a great job, especially considering they're still under 16s kids, they really held their own. Jack Barnes from Young was named best on ground for Central West."
CENTRAL WEST 11-8-74 defeated NORTHERN RIVERINA 10-11-71