Griffith Black and White Panthers survived a late comeback from the winless Leeton Greens to keep their unbeaten Group 20 record intact at EW Moore Oval yesterday.
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The Panthers prevailed 32-26 after leading 30-14 with a quarter of the game remaining. The home team could have sealed the match with a try under the posts in the 65th minute, but a botched put down left the door slightly ajar for the Greens.
It was all the invitation they needed.
From the ensuing tap restart, the Greens rumbled the ball upfield on the back of some big hit-ups, most notably from Timoli Yauvoli.
The giant prop left a few Panthers defenders in his sizeable wake as he helped move the Greens close enough to have a genuine crack at the home side’s line.
After having a few shots, the Greens went back to Yauvoli, who ploughed his way through a half gap to score near the posts.
The subsequent conversion moved the Greens to within 10 points with 13 minutes remaining and suddenly it was game on.
The Panthers’ intensity wasn’t at the level it was earlier in the contest, but Black and Whites fans thought the game was theirs when five-eighth James Williams plucked an intercept and set sail for the tryline.
But the referee called back the playmaker for offside, and the ensuing penalty put the Greens in prime attacking territory.
The visitors didn’t waste the opportunity, James Hodge doing it all himself from dummy-half to score on the right edge.
Dave Stevens made a tricky conversion look easy to leave the Greens on the verge of a major upset. All the momentum was with the visitors, but when they conceded a penalty in the play the ball 25 metres from their line, Black and Whites opted to take the two points.
Williams soaked up a few seconds and made no mistake with the kick to make the margin six points, but there was to be a final twist, with the Panthers coughing up possession in the following set.
With a minute left, the Greens tried to manufacture a miracle. After trying to force their way through the middle, Leeton went to the edge, a last-ditch grubber kick going dead as the siren sounded.
Black and Whites co-coach Craig Morriss said the Panthers should have wrapped up the game well before fulltime.
“We started making a few silly errors, dropping off tackles, and we let them back in it,” he said. “But we got out of it. It was another close one. It’s becoming a bit of a habit.”
