It was a scrappy affair at Leeton No 1 Oval in the Group 20 first grade elimination final, and it was Darlington Point Coleambally who came out on top with a 38-30 win over Leeton on Saturday.
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It was the home side who were able to make the first impact on the scoreboard off the back of a mistake from the Roosters with Kirtis Fisher getting over the line but it was short-lived with DPC getting level with a try to Ben Jeffery.
The try-for-try nature of the game continued with Adam Twigg able to crash over after the Roosters made a mistake coming out of their own end, but again the Greens weren't able to hold their lead as Drew Hopwood brought the Roosters onto level terms.
Jeffery made another dart from dummy half to give his side the lead, but this time it was the Greens who were able to hit back almost immediately with Todd Prest making a strong break to crash over two minutes after Jeffery gave DPC the lead.
The opening 20 minutes was left DPC captain Josh Veivers feeling frustrated.
"We would score and then make an error, and they would score, and then they'd make an error, and we would score," he said.
"It was just a real scrappy start to the game."
Heading into the break, both sides struggle with their discipline, and it was the Roosters who capitalised with David Collett scoring to see DPC leading 24-16 at the break.
The Roosters got another try just after the break with Dillon Bartter getting over the line to see their lead grow to 14 points, but Leeton refused to lay down.
With 24 minutes remaining Jordan Demarzo scored in the corner and to make the issue worse for the Roosters, Sam Bartter was sent to the sin bin for a late hit.
The Greens made the most of the extra man with Demarzo scoring his second after the got to a smart grubber in behind the line from Harrison Rudd first to see the Greens close to within six points.
Veiviers kicked a penalty goal before Billy Robb crossed to see the margin grow, but Leeton hit back with four minutes to go with Rudd getting the side back to within eight.
The Roosters were able to hold out and keep their season alive with the 38-30 win. Veivers admitted it wasn't the prettiest win, but it doesn't matter come finals.
"It was a scrappy way to get the result, but you only need the result in knockout footy," he said.
"We lost our discipline for about 20 minutes in the second half, and Leeton came back at us pretty strong. They are a young and enthusiastic team, and we knew they were always going to keep coming, but luckily enough, we were able to get there."
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