Central were desperate to win in order to stay in touch with the top teams and were first to score, going to a 4-0 lead in the 10th minute.

This seemed to get the Goannas focused and they soon responded when promising youngster Reed Hugo ran a tremendous line to bust through the Central defence and crash over near the posts. Willie Heta kicked the conversion for a 6-4 lead.

Cessnock were dominating their opponents and rolling up field with ease, and they were soon in again when Shaun Metcalf regathered a Liam Foran cross kick and beat two defenders to score.

From the kick-off the Goannas threw the ball around and in the ensuing set of six scored again through Jarred Edwards, after some great team work.

Kerrod Holland converted to take the score to 18-4 and a big victory looked to be on the cards, but the Goannas dropped their intensity and some poor ball security led to Central scoring a late try and at half time the score was 18-10.

At the break Cessnock coach Craig Miller was critical of the team’s lack of ball security, which continually put them under pressure, but assured the Goannas that if they corrected this, the result would take care of itself.

The Goannas began the second half in a confident manner and it wasn't long before they were in again, when Brett Stevens was too clever for the defence and split them open to dive over.

Central looked to be struggling, but hung in there and actually got the better of the Goannas in general play, but could not come up with the plays that mattered, scoring just one more try reduce the margin to 24-16.

Heta crossed for a nice try right on full-time and the ever-reliable Mark White confidently knocked over the conversion from a very difficult angle for a final score of 30-16.

The win – which was a twice-washed-out catch-up game from round three – put the Goannas into first place on the competition ladder.

“This has been a tremendous effort from all concerned at the club and a great deal of credit must go out to the coaching staff and the playing roster,” Goannas president David Woodbury said.

Hugo was voted players’ player, well-supported particularly by fellow forwards White, Dan Metcalf and Stevens, while another promising youngster Oliver Powell (in only his second game in the top grade) looked very classy with everything he did.

Reserve grade continued their good recent form with an impressive 24-12 win over the highly-rated Central.

Fabian Dunstan had a match to remember, scoring three tries, while Dylan Edwards and Dean Wearing also scored, and Ryan Holman kicked two goals.

Players’ player went to Sam Wilson while Brent Mendyke and Sam and Ben Russell also had strong games in a great team effort.

Third grade was beaten 26-18 after being behind 26-0 at half-time, but to their credit they applied themselves in the second half and could have won the game.

Tries went to Arch Dunstan, Rhys Binns, Alex Davey and Jason Smith while Joel Hafey kicked two goals. Smith was named players’ player while Jarrod Harris had an outstanding game along with Dunstan.

This Sunday the Goannas take on arch-rivals Wests at Harker Oval in what’s shaping up to be their toughest game of the year.

The Goannas won the first round encounter 34-18 and this Sunday’s clash will be a good test of their form. First grade will kick off at 3pm.