Undermanned Rebels struggle away from home against Demons

And come full time in the Central West AFL round eight match, it was the Demons that claimed a 28-point victory at South Dubbo Oval, denying Rebels from joining Orange Tigers at the top of the ladder on 28 points.

Rebels had held the lead at the end of the first two quarters, but it was the Demons who poked ahead by two points by the end of the third quarter.

In the final term, the Demons kicked away, scoring four goals to nothing, to claim a 9-12-66 to 4-14-38 win.

Rebels co-captain Matt Archer, who scored three of his side's four goals, said the game proved difficult.

"We went over there and I had a feeling that it was going to be low scoring game where we were probably going to struggle to kick a big score," he said.

"I thought our backs did a good job to keep them at a reasonable score, but we weren't able to capitalise going forward.

"Our ball use through the middle and forward half of the ground, we weren't able to get any marks or clean possessions, which was disappointing.

"We were pretty poor with our skills. Our backline did well to hold Dubbo up for most of the game though."

Rebels had roughly 14 players unavailable for the away trip to play the Demons, which may have proven to be costly.

However, Archer said his side went into the game still reasonably confident that they would get the win.

"Regardless of how many we had out, we still went over reasonably confident we could get a win," he said.

"But we just lacked so much skill. We were just poor with our ball use.

"Obviously having all those guys in would help, but you can't put it down to that We were just poor with our execution and our ball decision."

Demons coach Shayne Wilesmith described the match as a "gutsy win".

"The result shows we can compete, those guys are second or near the top," he said.

"I feel like we can compete with any of the teams on our day, but we have to show up. That's what we're striving for."

Wilesmith said his defence held up well on the day.

"We were missing our fullbacks on the day but Josh Anasis filled those shoes very well, he stood up really well," he said.

"Our back six held us in the game and allowed us to extend the lead. They gave us a lot of lateral movement, not so much straight down the guts.

"We've got a big challenge next week against the Giants, who'll be a struggle."

Rebels will remain in second place, while Dubbo also remain in fourth place, with the competition moving into round nine next Saturday.