Three goal blitz in final five minutes takes Bathurst Bushrangers to AFL Central West win over Dubbo Demons

Three late goals over the final five minutes for the Bushrangers saw the visiting side claim a close 11-11-77 to 10-14-74 success at South Dubbo Oval, led by a four goal effort from Hugh Templeton.

The lead exchanged hands at the end of every quarter but the Bathurst men picked the right term to hold the advantage, extending their winning run to nine matches.

Bushrangers co-coach Matt Archer said his injury-ravaged Bushrangers travelled believing that they were the underdog side.

"We had probably 12 or 13 unavailable. You never go over planning to lose, so we went over with the expectation that we could win," he said.

"There was a slight breeze so it felt like it shouldn't have had much of an impact but it clearly did because there was only one scoring end. It was definitely up and down, and both teams had their chances."

Demons held a 12 point advantage at the end of the first quarter but Bushrangers turned that into a four point lead in their own favour at the main break.

The visitors, already short on several key players, lost another one of their stars of the 2022 season in Nathan Smith shortly before half-time, due to concussion.

Bushrangers let themselves down early in the third quarter by allowing the Demons to retake the lead and threaten to run away during a five-goal term - the best-scoring period for either side.

But Bushrangers outscored Dubbo 26 to nine in the last quarter to wrestle back the lead in an exciting conclusion.

In the end, one end of the ground produced 15 goals while the other only had six.

"Dubbo started out all guns blazing and we were able to wrestle momentum back before the end of the quarter, and we were able to use that momentum to get the lead just before half-time," he said.

"We mentioned at half-time how important it was over the next 10 minutes to not let them kick too many quick ones, and then they did exactly that. That plan went out the window.

"We got pretty lucky in the end. We kicked three goals in the last five minutes and we were able to steal it in the end. The first 10 minutes of that quarter the ball lived in their forward half so it wasn't looking like we would get it back but a couple of guys really stood up for us."

One of those who delivered under pressure was Templeton, who had a hand in all three of the Bushrangers' late treble of goals.

"He was unbelievable over the last 10 minutes. He made a couple of key tackles as well," Archer said.

"Isaac Coldicott and Will Lesh on wing and half forward on one side were unbelievable for us. We're stoked to be able to come away with a victory and it puts us in a really good position over the next couple of weeks."

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