ST Pat’s produced patches of their best football this Group 10 premier league season to come within four points of undefeated competition leaders Orange CYMS on Sunday.
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Saints were able to go toe-to-toe with the competition heavyweights for a majority of the game, eventually going down 28-24 at the Sportsground.
A horror 15 minute period for Pat’s after the break proved the difference. The hosts surrendered their 14-10 half-time lead and CYMS piled on three tries to go up 28-14.
Outside of that window Saints looked like a completely different side from the one towelled up by Orange Hawks a fortnight earlier.
“We set some new values at the club over the last few weeks and we just wanted the boys to stick to those, and they did,” Pat’s coach Kurt Hancock said.
“They stuck together. They were positive on the field and their attitude was outstanding. If they play like that for the rest of the season they will win more games than they lose.
“I thought Chris Bamford’s stint in the 12 minutes after half-time was outstanding, but we didn’t help the cause. We didn’t manage the game in that part.”
Pat’s opened the scoring just three minutes into the match through Joey Gunn before CYMS hit back quickly through Cameron Jones.
The hosts grabbed a 10-6 lead as a wave of CYMS errors and penalties began to take its toll.
Robbie Mortimer found a gap in the Pat’s defence to level the scores at 10-all before a second Gunn try ensured Pat’s would have lead at the break.
The wheels came off the Saints’ bus in the second half when Tim Mortimer, Bamford and Lachie Munro picked up converted tries.
CYMS went close to finding another try but when Pat’s took the ball up the other end and scored through Greg Behan the match was back on.
A massive run by Rhys Frame led to a try for Lawrence on the end of the set but Pat’s came up just shy of an upset win.
“The most important thing was the two points. We were under a bit of pressure at the end there so we’re just happy to get the win,” CYMS’ Tim Mortimer said.
“The same thing happened to us against Blayney where we got a little bit complacent. We had the half-time chat to work out what needed to be done. We were able to come back out and win, just like we did against Blayney.”
