Highs and lows: Heartbreak after historic victory for Thunderbolts

After a performance which Men's Youth League division two coach Mitch Balderston said was "the best we've played all season" on Saturday, a combination of complacency and fatigue laid the Thunderbolts low on Sunday.

Without the presence of key players Ben Pearce and Bailey Keech, Balderston knew it would take something special to upset the Sydney Comets on their home court to start the weekend - something which no Tamworth team had ever done before.

But the Thunderbolts had some aces up their sleeve which they knew would increase their chances of an upset.

"A lot of things we've been working on over the last few months, we put into practice on Saturday night," Balderston said.

"A few of the defences that we hadn't really played to this point because we didn't want to show our hand too much. But on Saturday night, we pulled out all the stops and it was a huge team performance."

Tamworth's razor-thin 60-59 win was a stunning result for the team, but extracted a toll from the players involved.

After driving for six hours to reach Sydney, then another 90 minutes after the game to the Central Coast ahead of Sunday's fixture, the team was fatigued and had given almost everything they had to secure the first win.

And, up against the second-to-last-ranked Central Coast Waves team the next day, Balderston sensed that some of the team assumed it would be a straightforward victory.

"We definitely didn't play to our potential," he said.

"There were just too many tired bodies and not enough concentration and respect for what was possible because of where Central Coast sat on the ladder.

"The boys just sort of thought it was a shoo-in that we were going to win."

As the 76-63 scorecard attests, Tamworth's overconfidence proved costly. However, despite its disappointing conclusion, Balderston said the team "has to focus on the positives" from the weekend, namely their historic victory on Saturday.

"No Tamworth side's ever beaten the Sydney Comets on their home floor, ever," he said.

"So we've essentially just gotten that monkey off the association's back. To take on the city of Sydney and actually beat them on their home court is a pretty big deal.

"So as disappointing as Sunday was, I think we have to focus on that achievement."

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