Heading into round five of the Group 19 season, two teams in the men’s second division competition remained undefeated.
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The top-of-the-table clash in Tenterfield lived up to the hype with the scoreboard see-sawing until late in the game.
The Tigers shot out to an 18-4 lead before the visitors scored on the stroke of half-time to close the gap 18-10.
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The second session saw the Tigers switch off and the Wombats capitalised, posting back-to-back four-pointers to hit the front 30-28 by the final 10 minutes of the game.
The hosts clicked back into gear and managed to cross for a try in the dying minutes to seal the 32-30 win.
“It was a good game of footy but we did our best to throw it away,” captain-coach Brendan Minns said.
“They scored quick tries but we ended up sealing the win right at the death with five minutes to go.”
Minns was disappointed with the side’s discipline and said they will have to be more focused if they want to keep top spot on the ladder.
“Just the fact we set out to be a little bit more disciplined and to not give Warialda as much time with the ball and in the middle part of the second-half, that's what we did,” he said.
“We gave them a lot of opportunities and gifted them a lot of field position. That is definitely one thing we can improve on. And our on-line defence was probably a bit disappointing.”
While ill-discipline and errors proved costly, Minns was impressed with the side muscling up to the bigger Warialda pack.
“Warialda were a pretty big side and – especially in the first-half – our defence was great,” he said.
“Our attitude was unreal, we worked really well as a team in defence.”
The Tigers are back at home this Saturday and come up against a winless Walcha side vying for their first two points on the board.
Minns is expecting the Roos to arrive with plenty of fire.
“We have got ourselves in a good position now and we can't be complacent because we want to stay at the top,” he said.
“We are happy that our hard work has payed off to get us in the position we are in but we are not going to get ahead of ourselves.
“We still have a long way to go before finals footy and we have to make sure we play well every week and not get ahead of ourselves.”