That was evident in the wake of Orange Emus' 24-15 Blowes Clothing Cup derby victory over Orange City on Saturday as greens' mentor Pete Bromley admitted he was content his squad got the two points, but wasn't happy with several aspects of the game.

After shooting out to a 12-0 lead early, Emus were subsequently outscored 15-13 by an extremely brave City side, and even though Bromley acknowledged the way in which the Lions battled, he sensed a pinch of complacency among his playing group after they established the early buffer.

"I don't know if I'd call it a weakness of ours but I think it's a bit of an attitude thing," Bromley said.

"We do the hard work in the first 25 minutes, get the ascendancy and then think it's time to back off.

"We need to keep executing rather than letting sides back in. We want to be more ruthless."

There was no lack of intention from Emus in the opening stages of the contest as they struck after just five minutes are barging their way over from close range.

The early onslaught continued as Shahid Khalfan sliced into the promise land, giving his troops a 12-0 lead after Gus Roberts missed an awkward kick at goal.

But, from then on, the Lions tightened the screws and after a Traye Hodge injury in the 32^nd minute (which caused a lengthy delay), they began to take control.

Immediately after the resumption, Duncan Young nailed a penalty goal from long range and brought the scores to 12-3, before Kieran Bonin fell over the line thanks to some nifty lead-up work from young.

With the scores sitting at 12-8, Young uncharacteristically missed a kick from very close range before the sides went into the sheds for half-time.

Viv Paasi's men picked up where they left off in the second stanza, scoring a try in the 43^rd minute through Josh Tremain - Young wouldn't miss the conversion this time, giving his men a 15-12 lead.

Blocker's try would be the only impact City would have on the score sheet for the rest of the afternoon as Emus clicked back into gear from that point onward, scoring tries in the 56^th and the 69^th minute, Gus Roberts putting the nail in the coffin with a bulldozing effort.

"City came back, they always come back, you can never write them off," Bromley said.

"They're good enough to take advantage of our mistakes and they put us under a fair bit of pressure."

While Orange City sits at the bottom of the ladder with just one win to its name, it must be mentioned that the side, led by Josh Tremain, is much better than the standings indicate.

Saturday's loss marked a fifth single-digit defeat in 2021.

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