When Will Oldham's 69th minute conversion from basically straight in front banged into the upright but deflected over the black dot at Anne Ashwood Park, Bathurst Bulldogs coach Dean Oxley knew it was going to be his side's day.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Oldham's conversion pushed Bulldogs ahead 16-15 with just 12 minutes to go in Saturday's Blowes Clothing Cup grand final rematch and from there the Bathurst side went on to score again and eventually win by six points, despite Orange Emus mounting pressure in the dying stages.
Naturally for Bulldogs the 21-15 win was one to savour as it reversed the result of last year's decider, but it also keeps them undefeated in 2019 and on top of the standings.
The defeat resigns the defending premiers, who have now suffered two consecutive defeats and dropped to third, to their worst start to a season since 2014.
Not that it's panic stations, Emus coach Pete Bromley said.
It is only a month into the season after all and, although he gave Bulldogs plenty of credit, he did concede his troops shot themselves in the foot again, as they did against Cowra the week before.
Emus' discipline once again left plenty to be desired and their execution in the clutch wasn't particularly good.
The biggest indication of that was with 10 minutes to go when, trailing 16-15, they opted against a straight-forward, go-ahead penalty goal to search for a try.
The lineout 10 out from Bulldogs' line fell apart though, the hosts winning back possession and scoring not long after.
"We just couldn't finish it off," Bromley admitted, adding his greens probably ran out of puff.
"They are two good teams, there was always going to be that sort of battle, there's that good rivalry (and) we played well, we defended well
"We knew we were always going to be in for a big tussle, it was a case that we had to turn up in defence, keep turning up in defence and turn them away. We did well in that first half, we knew the first sort of 20 minutes would set the tone for the game.
"We kept turning them away and they had to take a few penalty goals. We got some good tries in the first half, we just couldn't finish it off."
Even Oxley heaped praise on the greens' defensive effort, particularly considering they were down to 14 for 10 minutes after No.8 Scott McLean - who was excellent throughout - was shown yellow with 22 minutes to go.
The defending premiers held their line for virtually the entire clash, Bulldogs' only points coming through penalty goals until the dying stages when Justin Mobbs and Harry Peacock found their way over the stripe.
Those two were spectacular for the hosts in the victory and having both toured New Zealand with Central West, have certainly put themselves in the mix for Blue Bulls jerseys this year.
"We didn't score as many tries today because their defence was outstanding, there wasn't the space we had in the first three rounds," Oxley said.
"We were down at half-time but we had the wind at our back in the second half, trusting the process is what we really had to do.
"I wasn't nervous because I had a lot of belief in our ability. Nerves weren't a part of that game, it was about playing to our structure. Under pressure last year we got away from our structure, but we were were a young side last year and we learned some lessons."
With the lions' share of possession Bulldogs went 6-nil up after 13 minutes, before Emus scored through five-eighth Jamil Khalfan with their first entry into the hosts' 22.
Oldham landed another penalty goal before McLean dived over, Staniforth's conversion giving Emus a 12-9 lead at the break.
The dour battle between the two packs continued in the second half - constantly one side would pilfer through smart counter-rucking one moment but be penalised for not releasing in the wake of stern defence the next.
When McLean was shown yellow with 22 left it looked as it would be the advantage Bulldogs needed, although Staniforth booted a penalty first before Mobbs barged over, with Peacock finding space in the dying stages to give Bulldogs what was ultimately a match-winning, six-point lead.
"I was really proud of the way the boys stuck to what we wanted to do today when Emus threw everything at us," Oxley said
"Emus are very strong team, they're a very strong club. They've been the benchmark for a lot years and they still are. But we got the result here and we're very happy with that."
- BATHURST BULLDOGS 21 (Justin Mobbs, Harry Peacock tries; Will Oldham conversion, 3 penalty goals) def ORANGE EMUS 15 (Jamil Khalfan, Scott McLean tries; Nigel Staniforth conversion, penalty goal)
WANT MORE ORANGE AND REGIONAL SPORT?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...