THE CSU Stags produced one of their best performances of the season to defeat Abercrombie FC in the Bathurst Football Association men’s first grade competition on Sunday.

The students moved to a record of two wins and three draws along with one loss so far in 2014 thanks to the 4-2 win, but they were forced to work hard for it.

Star striker Chris New-Tolley provided the opener for CSU in a close first half before icing the game for his team 15 minutes from full-time with a perfect finish.

“It was definitely one of our better performances,” CSU captain Ben Ballantine said.

“They really stuck it to us for long periods of that game, we were locked at 1-all at half-time and we had to work very hard to get on top of them.

“Chris New-Tolley is one of the best, if not the best, player in the Western area at the moment and it is such a luxury to have him out there in those sorts of situations.”

CSU’s general advantage over their opposition, as in most sports they play, was speed but Abercrombie were able to curb that to some degree for the first hour of play.

They hit back after each of the Stags’ first two goals – the second going to Josh Brown after New-Tolley’s opener – but under weight of possession in the latter part of the game their defence gave way.

Mitch Kunnen put the Stags up 3-2 before New-Tolley’s second provided the icing on the cake.

“Both sides possessed the ball really well so it wasn’t a particularly quick game in that first half,” Ballantine.

“We had some good contributors today. Our two centre-backs in Alex Ward and Daniel Clements, and Pat Hogan in goals were all very strong. Josh Brown was another who was good.”

For Abercrombie, Ash Granger was a clear stand-out while Michael Betts and James Leven were the goal scorers.

With City Colts suffering their first defeat of the competition in losing 2-1 against Bathurst ’75, the Stags moved to within a few points of the premiership lead. Ballantine said it reinforced how tight things are.

“That was a bit of an upset based on the first five games or so, Colts have been a real surprise packet this year,” he said.

“But based on today, I’m starting to think again that we can give this competition a real shake and finally win a title after 21 years or whatever it has been.”

CSU STAGS 4 (Chris New-Tolley 2, Josh Brown, Mitch Kunnen) defeated ABERCROMBIE FC 2 (Michael Betts, James Leven)