Bathurst '75 holds on for 4-2 win over Parkes Cobras in Western Premier League

Despite playing with 10 men for close to an hour after Damien Booth was red carded, Bathurst '75 managed to post a 4-2 win over the in-form Parkes Cobras outfit in Saturday morning's Western Premier League match.

Though visiting teams have not had much joy in Parkes this season, Bathurst '75 opened up a three-goal lead in the first half then rallied in defence to try and preserve it.

It wasn't the prettiest win the Bathurst side has posted this season, but it's arguably the one which showed the most heart.

"Defensively we haven't been one of the better teams in the comp, there's games where we are really good and games where we're not so good, so at half-time we spoke about how we were going to set up defensively and protect the ball," Bathurst '75 coach Mark Comerford said.

"It became a challenge to get the result in the second 45 with 10 men.

"At the end of the day our keeper made some good saves towards the end and we managed to defend things quite well and come away with three points.

"That was the objective, to come here with that winning mentality, and that keeps us in touch with the top two."

It was a dramatic opening half at Harrison Park with five goals, a red card and another two Parkes players shown yellow.

On top of that were 13 free kicks, including one from the spot, and 10 shots on target.

The game was just two minutes old when '75 had its first chance, Agieg Aluk pouncing on a defensive error and working his way into a one-on-one.

Parkes goalkeeper Ryan Dunn was up to the task, getting a hand to the ball to knock it off the feet of the striker, but the goals soon came.

Three in the space of 10 minutes that is.

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Firstly Aluk scored from an attacking throw-in, then Booth found the mark following a Tom Rooke free kick.

When '75 skipper Luke Mutton tucked the ball inside the left post in the 19th minute, his side was well in control.

But then came a twist.

Booth was shown yellow for a bad tackle and moments later was booked once more - his red carding in the 34th minute reducing '75 to 10 men for the remainder of the contest.

From the free kick which followed, off the boot of Cameron Kopp, Alec Bateson deflected the ball in on the far post for Parkes.

In the five-minute period prior to half-time Parkes duo Kopp and Mitch Hutchings were shown yellow, then a bad tackle in the box sent '75 to the spot.

Rooke sent Dunn the wrong way to make it 4-1 with 20 seconds of the half remaining.

"The thing for us was in that first 20 minutes we were up 3-0 and we probably could've been up by a little bit more," Comerford conceded.

"We probably blew a couple of chances with just poor decisions and taking players on.

"But we looked quite comfortable and really, if we stay with 11, we don't get to the point where it gets close."

In the opening stages of the second half '75 found itself with more defensive work to do as the Cobras looked to make it six consecutive wins on home soil.

Parkes pulled a goal back in the 62nd minute after being awarded its 12th free kick of the match.

Hutchings took the penalty just outside the box, it took a deflection off the '75 defensive wall, and Bateson followed through to bagged his second of the match.

But that was to be the only goal of the half as '75s defence rallied to hold off the hosts.

Goalkeeper Jack Hunter made some sharp blocks, including a diving save to deny Hutchings with three minutes left, while Mutton and Riley Comerford were also strong in defence.

"I don't like to be critical of officials, but we didn't get many favours from the referee and we found it really hard to get out of our half," coach Comerford said.

"We were in a really good position when we lost our player and even at half-time when we were 4-1 up, we were still in a really good position.

"It was just a matter of how we could manage the game and defend set pieces and defend long balls, which there was a lot of."

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