Bathurst Bulldogs come from behind to win their Blowes Clothing Cup grand final rematch against Orange Emus

The Oldham goal gave Bulldogs the lead against Orange Emus with 11 minutes remaining at Ashwood Park and from there the hosts went on to win 21-15.

The win extended Bulldogs' impressive home ground winning streak - having gone undefeated there last season - but Emus certainly tested the foundations of fortress Ashwood.

The defending premiers held their line intact for 71 minutes, with Bulldogs' only points in the first half coming via penalty goals.

Even after Emus number 8 Scott McLean - who was a workhorse at the breakdown - was yellow carded, the visitors managed to add three points to their tally.

But Oxley said he always trusted his men would fight back against the team which denied them in last season's grand final.

"Actually I wasn't nervous because I had a lot of belief in our ability. We were down at half-time but we had the wind at our back in the second half, trusting the process is what we really had to do," Oxley said.

"Nerves weren't a part of that game, it was about playing to our structure. Under pressure last year we got away from our structure, but we were were a young side last year and we learned some lessons.

"We didn't score as many tries today because their defence was outstanding, there wasn't the space we had in the first three rounds."

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Emus' defence was certainly a feature of the opening half, as while the hosts had more of the ball and better field position they were unable to cross for a try.

A pair of Oldham penalties saw Bulldogs 6-0 up after 13 minutes, while in contrast when Emus got their first chance inside the attacking 22, they capitalised.

Jamil Khalfan crossed following an attacking line-out in the 17^th minute and on the stroke of half-time when earning another line-out feed deep in Bulldogs territory, the greens took advantage again.

This time it was McLean who drove over and with Nigel Staniforth's conversion, Emus led 12-9 at the break.

The dour battle between the two packs continued in the second half - a side would pilfer through smart counter-rucking one moment but be penalised for not releasing in the wake of stern defence the next.

When McLean was shown yellow with 22 left it looked as it would be the advantage Bulldogs needed.

Eventually it was as Justin Mobbs forced his way over, but not before Emus had booted a penalty.

The lucky deflection from Oldham's kick handed Bulldogs a 16-15 lead as McLean returned to the field.

With 11 minutes left the result was still in doubt and even after Harry Peacock sliced through Emus defence to score a second try for Bulldogs, there was still enough time for the title holder to respond.

But they couldn't and Bulldogs emerged with a six-point win.

"I was really proud of the way the boys stuck to what we wanted to do today when Emus threw everything at us," Oxley said

"Emus are very strong team, they're a very strong club. They've been the benchmark for a lot years and they still are. But we got the result here and we're very happy with that."

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While back-to-back defeats were tough for Emus coach Pete Bromley to take, especially given the improvement they showed from the Cowra match, he said his men "just ran out of puff in the end."

"We played well, we defended well. We knew we were always going to be in for a big tussle, it was a case that we had to turn up in defence, keep turning up in defence and turn them away," he said.

"We did well in that first half, we knew the first sort of 20 minutes would set the tone for the game. We kept turning them away and they had to take a few penalty goals. We got some good tries in the first half, we just couldn't finish it off.

"They are two good teams, there was always going to be that sort of battle, there's that good rivalry."