Peter McDonald Premiership: Orange CYMS defeat Cowra Magpies 16-14

A double to Cowra's Thomas Rose almost brought about an upset victory for the Magpies, but CYMS are a side that knows how to win, coming away with a 16-14 victory at Sid Kallas Oval in the Peter McDonald Premiership.

Missing Mortimer and Joey Lasagavibau, CYMS put forward its fourth halves combination of the year with Josh Board and Pat Williams running the show.

A demand for creativity in his half-time message, ensured Mortimer's men turned around a 10-6 deficit after leading 6-0 early on.

"We came out well then Cowra got right into the game and dominated that second twenty minutes of the first half so they had momentum," he said.

"We were probably lucky to be on 10-6 but the boys really defended well and kept themselves in the game and I knew we had to play a bit more footy in the second half and the boys came out and did that, we were able to create two more tries and get the two points."

After going into the sheds down at half-time, CYMS crossed to make it 10-all with half an hour left.

The away side was over again with fifteen minutes remaining as the score read 16-10.

Cowra didn't go away, with Rose scoring his second but a missed conversion kept CYMS in the lead as it held on for a 16-14 victory.

While CYMS now remain unbeaten to kick its Peter McDonald Premiership season off perfectly, Mortimer is yet to see a perfect performance from his side with its best probably the 44-26 round three win over Cowra.

"I said to the boys, I'd like one week to just have a convincing win so I wouldn't pull my hair out," he said.

"It shows we haven't hit our stride yet."

The coach agreed that with the new competition, it's difficult to find an easy game.

"There's not (any easy games), we have seen a few other games where there's been some big scores but we haven't had a convincing win yet," he said.

"We're getting the job done, they've all been tough games, to be six from six it shows the boys are finding ways to win when it's tough."

With somewhat of a player shortage, Cam Jones, Ryan Banks and Jake Allen were all forced into playing minutes for reserve grade in its 20-8 win before strapping on the boots in first grade.

"It was a huge effort ... ideally as a first grade coach you want a fresh seventeen but all the reggies boys put in and a few of our boys volunteered to play with them - it's a great sign for the club that those boys are willing to help out," Mortimer said.

The coach added that with some of his squad out, including himself and Lasagavibau, his side seems to enjoy the responsibility of stepping up in the absence of important players.

"(Joey was) another big loss, for the boys to stand up was a great effort," he said.

"Every now and then it's good because it forces everyone to go that extra 10%."

While Mortimer admitted he was close to coming back on the weekend, he said he doesn't expect to return till after the long weekend bye.

ORANGE CYMS 16 (Cooper Monk, Lachlan Munro, Ethan Bereyne tries; Patrick Williams 2 goals) defeated COWRA MAGPIES 14 (Thomas Rose 2, Darcy Howard; Thomas Rose goal)

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