The Forbes Magpies were lucky to come away with a win over Parkes Spacemen on Sunday at Spooner Oval, when they defeated second ranked Parkes Spacemen 24-22, the first time they have beaten their rivals in six years.
In front of the biggest crowd to have assembled at Spooner in many years, both teams put on a show that did not leave any spectators disappointed.
In a game close to their heart, competition between Parkes and Forbes was at an all time high as they battled it out in the final round of the home-and-away season for the annual Brendon ‘Stubby’ Collits Memorial Cup. Forbes were extremely resilient throughout the match, managing to fight back after allowing Parkes to lead three times during the
match. They were led exceptionally by First Grade Captain-Coach Zac Merritt, who was well supported by Ben Robinson, Jake Grace and Ethan Gaffney.
The Magpies had the ball on a string it seemed, with an impressive try scored by Bailey Hartwig, who was called up from under 18s to fill a position on the wing, which opened the scoreboard 16 minutes in. Parkes were quick to respond off an Alex Prout bomb, which saw Jesse Parker and Billy Burns combine to tie up the scores at 6-6 at half time. Parkes came out firing in the second half and saw Billy Burns cross out wide unopposed to bring Parkes into the lead for the first time in the game at 10-6.
Forbes were able to answer six minutes later with Joe Coe diving on a grubber in the corner to even the score. Parkes scored twice more, with credits to Alex Prout and Brendan Paige, however the Magpies continued to hang on and tries to Jake Grace and Zac Merritt saw them in a nail biting 22 all position, with half\ Carl Johnson unsuccessful in an attempt at a field goal with minutes to go. As the siren sounded, Parkes Captain- Coach Dennis Moran was penalised in front of the posts, allowing Johnson to kick the winning two points in a controversial ending, as the Magpies home crowd celebrated.
The game was a perfect finish to a great day of football, that in other games saw the Magpies League Tag girls beaten 12-0, Under 18s went down 16-8, however the Magpies Group 11 Reserve Grade Premiers put on a clinic and defeated Parkes 44 -6. The Minor premiership honours taken out by Magpies under 18s and Reserve grade
teams, has earned them a weeks rest, while the Magpies First Grade and League Tag teams will head to Caltex Park Dubbo on Saturday to take on Dubbo Westside and Wellington respectively in the elimination Semi Finals.
First game will be League Tag from 12pm. The Magpies encourage all supporters to head over to Dubbo and cheer the teams on into the next round of semis.