Orange Hawks win a bruising, low scoring encounter over Bathurst Panthers

Hawks were down 12-0 in just 12 minutes but fought back to take a 16-12 win in a game marked by incompletions, missed opportunities and physical meetings through the centre of the park.

Fullback Ryan Manning scored 12 of the Hawks' points in the win.

Panthers threw everything at the visitors over the last 10 minutes of the game, where they had several chances to even up the game, but the Hawks defence held firm.

Hawks coach Shane Rodney said his side's level of effort helped make up for their shortcomings in attack.

"The boys hung in there. It might not have been pretty - and a bit hard to watch at times - but we'll take the win," he said.

"They're trying really hard and although they're not clinical in some areas the effort is there. Panthers have had a few good wins and they're not a side that's going to beat themselves. They'll hang around in the game.

"There did seem to be a lot of fatigue out there. [Panthers] played quite well through the middle and Jake [Betts] controls things there well. He's always a threat.

"They might have missed a few opportunities as well but we'll take the win."

Panthers coach Jake Betts said the incompletions - especially deep in Hawks territory - came back to bite.

"It was pretty physical and there was a lot of dropped footy. Hawks just reacted to it better and probably won that battle through the middle," he said.

"We probably weren't as dominant as what we have been lately and that showed at the back end of the game.

"When we hold onto the ball we're a good footy side but we keep letting teams off the hook. You do that against a team like Hawks and they're going to make you pay for it. We were definitely in it but we just didn't hold onto the footy enough."

Panthers scored twice in a three minute window to apply plenty of early pressure on the Hawks.

The first try came through a McCoy White hit up close to the Hawks line while the next try to Jesse Limon came on the back of a fortunate bounce off a kick, which landed in his chest and allowed him to score under the posts.

Panthers survived a full Hawks set on their own try line but they wouldn't be able to do it twice.

Hawks got it back to 12-4 in the 24^th minute when quick passes between Matt Boss and Scott Rosser helped put Manning into space.

Manning then converted his own try to cut the lead back to six.

Panthers forced the first line drop out of the match four minutes later but coughed up the ball just metres from the try line later into the set.

Then, four minutes out from half-time, Panthers dropped the ball in an almost identical position to squander another chance.

Hawks then returned the favour inside the final minute of the half when they failed to capitalise on a full set inside the Panthers' 10m - throwing the ball into touch at the siren.

The fumbling continued in the new half when Hawks knocked on right in front of the Panthers' posts in the 48^th minute, failing to make the most of a penalty that put them in great position.

A strong run through the middle of the park from Hawks five-eighth Ben Blimka once again brought the visitors into promising field position but his grubber at the end of the set went long.

However, the Hawks' next trip deep into Panthers territory would finally lead to points.

Panthers failed to properly deal with a Hawks grubber kick and Manning was in the right place to leap onto the loose ball, before levelling proceedings with his conversion.

The familiar story continued for the Panthers when they knocked on inside their own 10m.

Hawks didn't let that chance slip as winger Joseph Coady latched onto a well weighted grubber that went into the left corner of the Panthers' in-goal area.

Panthers dominated the back end of the match but had three promising sets inside the final five minutes end in a turnover.

The first of those was a drop near the left corner post, the next being a kick which went dead and the final of those being a forward pass.