THE Orange City players were happy to stand out in the wintry conditions and sing their club song after they downed Orange Emus in their Blowes Menswear Cup local derby on Saturday.

The Lions won the match at Pride Park 10-7 and sang like they had claimed the premiership.

The victory was extra special for Lions prop John Gander, who was playing in his 100th first grade game for the club.

“It’s a bit of a relief and it’s good to get a win on Johnny Gander’s day,” Lions coach Andrew Hillan said.

“We just ground away at it. We stuck to our guns and we came away with it.

“(Derbies are) always hard-fought and today was no different. To win by three points was just fantastic.”

The Lions were leading 3-0 at the break after fullback Ross Morrissey kicked a penalty goal in the 14th minute, before missing another two in the opening half.

Orange City dominated possession and field position in the first half but Emus took the lead two minutes in to the second period when Joel Plummer jumped on a loose ball in City’s own goal area.

Will Oldham’s conversion gave Emus a 7-3 lead.

Thirteen minutes later Orange City were awarded a short-arm penalty 10m out from Emus’ line.

After taking the tap, Lions halfback Ollie Stone scrambled out from the back of the ruck and dived over to score.

Morrissey kicked the conversion for City to move in front 10-7.

From here the arm wrestle continued, with both sides testing the other’s defence.

City was able to hold on and take the win, their third for the season.

“That’s what we planned to do (dominate possession and field position first half) and it was good to see. It was good to see us stick to a game plan for a change,” Hillan said.

“Our discipline was so much better. We worked on getting to the ruck first and they did that today. If we played like that against some of the other sides, who knows where we’d be.”

At the other end of the field Emus captain Al Hattersley expressed his team’s disappointment at a loss which could end their semi-final chances.