The Bathurst Giants posted their maiden victory over the Orange Tigers.

The Giants notched up their maiden Central West AFL victory over the Orange Tigers, prevailing 8-12-60 to 6-12-48 in windy conditions.

That the Tigers were on a six-game winning streak and lead the competition made the result one to relish for the Giants.

On top of that, with the Bushrangers Rebels suffering a one-point loss to Dubbo on the same afternoon, the Giants rose to second place as its maiden finals appearance draws closer.

Not surprisingly, Giants coach Mark Kennedy was delighted with the result.

“They did have a few keys outs, but it was at their home ground and they were trying to make it a bit of a fortress,” he said.

“We had a really good side, it was probably one of the better sides I’d put on the park all year. It wasn’t our full strength side either, so I think it’s a really good sign for us going into the last couple of games and hopefully we can hold second spot.”

Though the Tigers were missing the Rothnie’s for the clash, the league’s leading goal-kicker in Tim Barry still presented a very big threat.

But in a tricky, blustering wind the Giants restricted Barry – he managed just two majors – and used the space at Waratah Sportsground to capitalise on their strong running game.

“The wind was shocking, it was like kicking into a brick wall at one stage. You’d kick it up and then it would go back over your head,” Kennedy said.

“It was a close game, conditions weren’t really conducive to our style of footy but the big ground was, so we just tried to use the space around the ground.

“We linked up pretty well going in to the wind then just bombed it long when we ran with it. It was a simple plan, but it worked though.”

The score see-sawed as expected given the conditions, the Giants leading by nine at the long break while the Tigers held a 13-point buffer at three-quarter-time.

However, the final term saw the Giants boot five majors to the Tigers’ one.

“Our backs did really well, we limited their opportunities and made the most of ours. It all sort of got down to the last quarter where it was fairly even, it was about a three goal breeze. I thought ‘I think we’re a bit of a shot here’. I think we won the ball out of the centre three times and kicked a couple of goals,” the coach said.

Kennedy nominated Ryan Cooke, Nic Broes, Riley Mitchell and Nathan Belbin as the Giants’ best.