CYMS were the better side on Sunday, particularly in terms of completions, and after shooting to a 12-0 lead inside the first minutes looked capable of a massive blowout, but Mudgee fought back into the clash, only trailing 22-18 at half-time and then taking a 28-26 lead with 20 minutes to go.

But the Dragons couldn’t hang on, CYMS’ experience under pressure coming to the fore as they scored twice more to earn an eight-point lead, before player-coach Mick Sullivan secured the win with a 77^th minute penalty goal.

After a scoring a try and kicking four of his six conversion attempts, CYMS lock Brock McGarity said the win was the perfect way to return after a two week break because, naturally, after two straight byes starting slowly can be a worry.

“It’s good to get that win after two weeks off, we’ve spent the time doing plenty of fitness work but it was good to get back out there,” McGarity said, before conceding the reigning champions were a bit flat at times.

“There was no real nerves or anything when Mudgee pushed in front but we did go a bit quiet there at one stage, hit a bit of a dead spot and we’ve sort of done that all year but we obviously went on and got the job done.”

CYMS remain in fourth after the victory but crucially made up two points on the now third-placed Cowra Magpies, they’re only separated by points difference.

On the other hand, Mudgee’s slim finals hopes slipped a little further away with the loss, they’re still seventh but are now five points adrift of sixth-placed Bathurst St Pat’s and another point behind fifth-placed Oberon.

“We’re hanging in there and there’s certainly things we can build on, but yeah,  we are running out of games,” Mudgee skipper Jared Robinson conceded, before pinpointing errors as the biggest factor in his side losing out on Sunday.

“We cut out two or three errors and that’s a different ball game, it’s been the same story all year we just let ourselves down a bit at key times.

“We are young, we’ve got a lot of kids playing in pretty crucial positions and we’re not quite there yet, and it does come down to experience because 60, 65 minutes of that was really good, we were right in it against a real quality side.

“A big thing from that is learning that if we’re going to push those passes we have to be better defensively the next set if it goes to ground, that killed us [on Sunday] and, you know, you’re never going to win games, against good side or bad sides, when you’re completing at around 50 per cent.”

Initially CYMS showed no signs of having had two weeks off, shooting to a 12-0 lead thanks to Travis Adelerhof and Chris Grevsmuhl’s early tries, that came in the first and sixth minutes respectively.

The two sides traded tries until half-time, with Aidan Woods, Corin Smith and Lee Hicks all scoring for Mudgee around Tom Satterthwaite and Ryan Griffin’s tries for CYMS.

After losing replacement lock Matt Penny shortly after the break Grevsmuhl broke the line, but the chance went begging as McGarity couldn’t reel in the offload.

It didn’t prove too costly as McGarity did score just two minutes later, following a Mudgee knock on, diving on a deft Sullivan grubber.

Mudgee hit back immediately though, Woods flopping on a Jack Beasley grubber to score his second, but Beasley missed the straightforward conversion to leave his side four points behind at 26-22.

They didn’t stay behind for long, with Garry Reilly slicing straight through CYMS’ middles and showing composure to take the tackle, knowing there’d be space on the edges.

That there was, Hicks finding enough to score his second before Beasley landed the kick to push the Dragons ahead 28-26.

A Mudgee knock on three tackles after the restart and then a penalty gave CYMS a chance but they blew it, spilling their lollies and looking somewhat flustered.

If they are, it was only for a fleeting moment, because five minutes later Joe Lasagavibau burrowed over to win the lead back for his side and with seven minutes to go Griffin scored his second from dummy-half, McGarity’s kick extending the lead to 36-26.

With three minutes remaining CYMS were awarded a penalty 28 out, straight in front, and with McGarity off the field Sullivan stepped up, slotted it, and capped off the victory.