A raucous home crowd has seen Orange Eagles soar to a "statement" win in their first Waratah 2 Youth League home game.
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The Eagles under 23s overcame their Sydney opponents, Hornsby Ku Ring Gai Spiders 82-80 after a late surge at Orange PCYC on Saturday, April 13.
The win takes the Eagles to 2-2 ahead of a home double header on April 20-21 with the side playing the first three games on the road.
Captain Andrew Gogola said it was a big boost against one of the metro sides.
"That's a big statement for our team," he said.
"To beat a highly ranked and skilled team like Hornsby is a great step forward for us so early in the season and will hopefully carry over to next weekend's double header against Illawarra and Marrickville."
"Legendary" Orange crowd
The home side trailed for much of the match and Gogola paid tribute to their composure as well as a helping hand from a vocal home support to ultimately get them over the line.
"We felt confident coming into the last quarter after changing our defence up and clawing our way back to a four-point game after being down by 14 at one point," he said.
"We were down the first three quarters of the game but we knew if we stayed composed and stuck to the process that we would come home strong and that's what we did.
"The home crowd was amazing, the team and I ran a training session for the U12 Eagles earlier in the day and they cheered for us all game.
"The Orange crowds are pretty legendary in the youth league as far as atmosphere goes. When we go play in Sydney some teams only have a handful of fans but in Orange we have a big loud crowd with music and half time entertainment.
"It's a great atmosphere and really drives us throughout the game."
Still room for improvement
Gogola led the way with 20 points while Rhys O'Neil wasn't far behind on 19.
The skipper said he was confident the new-look team would get better but was pleased with how they had started the campaign.
"It probably sounds like a cliche but the team worked together so well, that was the stand out - everyone played their role and believed in the plan and that's what got us home," he said.
"This team is still new, we haven't played a lot as a unit and we need to keep working on our combinations and chemistry and we will continue to improve.
"We think there's a lot of improvement left in us this season and every game we are getting better."
