The Macleay Valley Mustangs reserves fought back from a 14-0 deficit at half-time but they weren't able to overcome the Port Macquarie Sharks as they suffered a 18-12 defeat in an elimination final on Saturday.
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Mustangs reserve grade captain Warren Ahoy said his side weren't able to get into the contest in the first half and ultimately that proved the difference.
"We started pretty poorly. They scored off the first set off the game and they just dominated us in the middle of the field," Ahoy told the Argus.
"We couldn't get our hands on the ball. They probably had 70 to 80 per cent of possession in the first half."
Despite spending the majority of the opening period defending, the Mustangs were confident entering the second half considering they "should have been trailing by at least 30".
They immediately had the momentum swing in their favour as centre Rodney Daley made a break off the kick off and offloaded the ball to five-eighth Chris Holten who scored next to the posts.
The deficit was reduced to two points when centre Jason Russell got on the outside of his defender and dove over for a try.
The Mustangs then had three tries disallowed, which would have put them in the lead.
Dummy half Ethan Thompson was ruled to have committed a double movement infringement when reaching out to score while Holten and Harold Thompson were both ruled to have been held up when attempting to score tries.
Macleay Valley were made to pay for their missed opportunities as Port Macquarie dove over late in the game to extend their lead to six points.
While Ahoy was disappointed in the side's season coming to an end, he was pleased with how the team fought until the end and expressed his gratitude to the Under-18.5s who stepped up.
"It was a very tough, hard and physical game and even when things weren't going our way, we still did our best to get the win but it wasn't our day," Ahoy said.
"It was a really strong performance from the Under-18.5s boys who came in to fill in for us."
The Sharks advance to take on the Port City Breakers this weekend.
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