Blowes Clothing Cup: Orange City take on Dubbo Kangaroos at Pride Park

That streak continued on Saturday when they hosted the Dubbo Kangaroos at Pride Park during round six of the Blowes Clothing Cup first grade competition.

Right from the opening kickoff, the Lions found themselves under pressure, something that didn't let up for the next 40 minutes as the visitors rattled home 20 unanswered points going into the break.

"It was just the intensity," City winger Jya Little said of their slow start.

"We came out firing but a lack of communication got to us a little bit."

Lions hooker Darcy Holmes agreed.

"We just didn't seem to click on at the start," he said.

"We were a bit flat and it took us a while to kick into gear."

But the Lions weren't ready to lay down just yet.

First it was Josh Tremain who barged over the line to open the scoring for the hosts, before Holmes crashed over as well to narrow the score to 20-12 just eight minutes into the second half.

"Obviously the first half didn't go as we wanted, but the second half we came out all guns blazing which is how we wanted to start the game," Little said.

"All our intensity picked up and we wanted to put one on for the boys."

City were unable to build on that momentum however and Dubbo's Josh Bass would hit back with a score of his own. Another try to the Roos would push their lead out to 18, before Tremain barged over for his second of the day with just a few minutes remaining, as the game would end 30-19.

Dubbo's Calub Cook was instrumental in giving his side their hot start and was proud of his team's effort.

"When we've been playing away, we've had some rough starts and our goal today was to kick off the first ten and show what we were made of and play how we know we can play," he said after the win.

"It's an unreal feeling to start well just like we wanted and to continue on for the full 80 was a beautiful performance. Full credit to the boys, especially the forwards, they stepped up for the entire game...I've got no words to describe them.

"Credit to City to pick up the fight in the second half, but we regathered ourselves, rallied back and put our foot down and executed."

Asked if he hoped this was a turning point in what has been an up and down year so far, Cook responded: "I hope and pray."

Despite suffering their sixth loss from six games so far this season, Holmes was hopeful that things would start to turn around soon.

"(The second half) gives us a lot of confidence that we can compete with a good team," he said.

"We just have to keep trying, kick into gear a bit earlier and we'll be able to beat some teams and play some good footy."

ROOS 30(Tries; Josh Bass, Hamish Fuller, Tom Koerstz and Andy Leathem Conversions; Josh Bass 2, Penalty goals Josh Bass 2) defeated LIONS 19 (Tries; Josh Tremain 2, Darcy Holmes. Conversions; Mark Burton 2)

To read more stories, download the Central Western Daily news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: