Bathurst Panthers defeated Orange Hawks 16-14 in thrilling Western under 21s finish

With 30 seconds remaining, Panthers lead 16-14 before Hawks winger Jake Litchie burst down his left to wing, looking for the try line.

He would ultimately come up short, dragged into touch by the scrambling Panthers defence, making sure the Bathurst club would hold on and claim its second consecutive victory.

Hawks had minutes ago missed out on a chance to equalise when five eight Ryan Manning missed a relatively simple conversion, after he scored a try for his team.

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It was a massive effort for Hawks, who went into the match with just one player on the bench and was ultimately restricted to just the 13 on the field for a majority of the game following an injury.

Considering the circumstances, Hawks coach Jake Blimka was thrilled with how close his team got.

"It was a close finish, but I can't take anything away from the boys," he said.

"We've had a squad about 30 for the entire 21s season but we've been just so unlucky with injuries and blokes being away with other commitments for other sports. We haven't been able to field the squad we should've been able to.

"We played that whole game 13 players. We had one on the bench but then we coped an injury early on.

"To come away down 16-14, the boys should be pretty proud of themselves."

Panthers broke the deadlock within the opening minutes at CSU when fullback Callum Limon touched down to score, making the most of an early Hawks drop ball. Jackson Carter scored the extras.

But Hawks didn't rest on their laurels, scoring minutes later through Litchie and with Manning nailing the conversion from the sideline, the score was locked at 6-all.

Panthers would regain the lead before the end of the first half when a Carter kick was pounced on by Jesse Limon and with the Panthers five eight adding the extras, the hosts were up 12-6.

They would, however, allow Hawks halfback Ben Blimka score with 30 seconds left before half-time, but a Manning miss would have the visitors down 12-10.

Panthers would extend their lead in the second half when lock Jia Siakisoni scored, taking the score out to 16-10 before the grandstand finish in the last few minutes of the match.

Hawks previously forfeited to St Pat's last round due to a lack of numbers, having lost to Dubbo CYMS in the opening round.

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