Two first half goals for the hosts, from Damien Booth and James Christie, were enough for them to take maximum points in the second-versus-fourth contest, which shaped up as the match of the round.

Booth was in the right place at the right time after the attempted clearance by Parkes from a '75 free kick attempt wound up at his feet, and he put the shot away in the seventh minute.

It was Booth again getting involved in the second of '75's goals when his cross from the right side of the box took of deflection off the goalkeeper and Christie met the deflection with his chest before tapping a shot home.

Bathurst '75 coach Mark Comerford said the first half was a strong showing for his side but a couple of lapses from his team gave the Cobras a couple of chances they shouldn't have had.

"We were better at finding the target and keeping the ball, especially in the first half. The second half was a bit scrappy, and towards the back end of the first half we gave a lot of free kicks away in our defensive third which let them put balls into the box," he said.

"We gave away too many of those free kicks in bad areas. On top of that, the surface was difficult to play on. It was quite slippery. The more it was played on the harder it became.

"I'd say managing the game in the second half is something that we've got to be better at. We need to be gaining possession and then keeping possession.

"I feel that we were always still in control of the game. I always thought we controlled it reasonably well. Our front three were quite good and our two wide players were really great at getting in behind them, plus our midfield won a lot of ball back.

"Defensively I thought we were strong and we didn't give them too many chances. I'd say that we felt comfortable but we couldn't put them away. It's really pleasing though to see us get a clean sheet two weeks in a row."

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