The Cessnock Goannas celebrated favourite son Reed Hugo's 100th first grade game with a memorable 26-22 come from behind win against Wyong at Cessnock Sportsground on Saturday.
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The Goannas trailed by 14 points at one stage but rallied to finish over the top of a desperate Wyong with 16 unanswered points to close the game out.
In Wyong captain-coach Mitch Williams's 250th game the Roos started strongly and led 18-10 as they tried to keep their chances of playing semi-finals footy alive.
But despite the Roos scoring a try after the break to go up 22-10, Cessnock coach Harry Siejka said there was real belief that they would still get the win.
"Getting to 22-10 down it was a weird sort of feeling, everyone was calm after their last try," Siejka said.
"We stayed patient and got through what we had to do to get the win in the end.
"Very pleasing win, to be honest I prefer a win like that than one by 50.
"Six or seven weeks ago we probably don't win that game, but it's a really good sign of where we are at as a club. We just dug deep."
Siejka said the pressure was on from the beginning with semi-finals like footy.
"For the whole day it was a semi-final atmosphere. They had a lot to play for, if they lose they're out of finals and it was 250 games for Mitchy Williams," he said.
"We did a really good job, after initially falling behind and then stay in it and trust in what we had to do to get the job done.
"It was a very tough performance. Our middles were exceptional. I thought Harvey Neville was our man of the match and obviously Reed Hugo in his 100th game was really big for us."
Siejka said fullback Harry O'Brien delivered a couple of special moments with the ball which led to tries.
Jared Anderson continued his try scoring feats with a double, Reed Hugo scored one to mark his milestone and Josh Charles and Tyrone Nean also crossed for four-pointers. Siejka landed three of five conversions.
But in the end, Siejka said it was defence which got the Goannas home.
"I thought our defence was what won it for us. During the middle part of the second half we were really ruthless with our defence," he said.
"We really didn't break them down with skill it was just a tough game.
"At the end of the day any team that wants it more will win those sort of games.
"We had one to 17 stand up for a really important win.
"Harry O'Brien had a couple of really good touches which ended up leading to points and Sam Clune has topped our tackle count as a half which is massive.
"Dusty Shaw was very good, but I could probably rattle off 17 names to be fair. It was a really good team performance."
The Goannas have this weekend off as top five rivals Central, Macquarie and Souths are involved in a busy schedule of catch-up matches.
Cessnock hosts The Entrance on Saturday, July 30, before closing the season out against top-three rival Central Newcastle at St John Oval on Sunday, August 7 and at home when they host top-of the table Maitland on Saturday, August 13, in front of the 1972 Cessnock premiership team reunion.
