In a battle that went down to the wire, Orange Hawks proved to be its own worst enemy as the Panthers continued a five-match unbeaten run with a 19-12 victory in the Peter McDonald Premiership.

While normally known for flashy plays and moments of brilliance, Wright turned out to be the calm iceman, slotting a field goal late in the game to ensure his side couldn't be caught.

Bathurst's captain-coach Jake Betts was full of praise for his five-eighth whose return to the first grade side has helped deliver a turnaround in form after 2-2 start.

"He's unreal, he's a classy footballer and just having him on the field gives our boys confidence so we're very lucky to have him. I think he's in career best form at the moment," he said.

While Panthers held a lead for the majority of the game after shooting out to a 12-0 early in the first half, Hawks never left them alone with the final minutes going down to the wire.

The away side's defence held them together though, making for a satisfied captain.

"Hawks are a good side and very fit. It went end to end a little bit and could've gone either way," Betts explained.

"We let them back in the game with penalties and missed tackles but I was pretty happy with how tough the boys were today - they kept turning up and our defence on our line was really good so I'm happy with that."

Sunday's win makes it two in a row at Wade Park for Panthers with Betts delighted to win away from home after dropping games at Carrington Park to St Pat's and Mudgee earlier in the season.

"It's good, we spoke about it, we've dropped two games at home and we didn't want to do that so (winning) these sort of games (is crucial)," he said.

"We play Forbes next week so we spoke about how important the two points were today and I'm glad we got them."

After a two-week break, Hawks captain Alex Prout said the same issues are costing his side victory.

"That was a really tough game, really fast, we probably cruelled ourselves again," he said.

"I've probably been repeating myself game after game but just too many errors, our discipline was pretty good today until the end. We're probably our own worst enemy and turned the ball over when we didn't want to so it was a really tough game."

The skipper believes the solution to that problem simply comes from re-enforcements.

"We've been tested for depth, we've got a few injuries at the moment, a lot of blokes out of position and blokes backing up from reserve grade," he said.

"Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we start getting the numbers back and it'll flow on into both grades - it's just the numbers in the club at the moment."

While Deryne McKenzie missed selection again, Prout added that the prop should be back next week while Jake Blimka is still weeks away from full fitness.

Hawks' round ten fixture will see them travel to Jack Arrow Sporting Complex to play Bathurst St Pat's, with Prout determined to turn around his side's round six loss to them.

"They're just sitting below us so it's a pretty crucial game," he said.

"They just got us here a few games ago so hopefully we can turn the tide on them next week."

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