Prior to Sunday's match against the Gunning Roos, Gordon Highlanders coach John Sykes was hoping for a dry pitch.
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What he got was the opposite, and the Highlanders were forced to scramble for the first three quarters of the game under the weight of a prolonged assault from a determined Roos outfit.
But that didn't stop the home side from pulling out a heart-stopping 10-8 win in the dying minutes of the game.
The first half of the game was back-and-forth, as both sides made inroads but failed to cross for a try on the sodden North Park field. Roughly three minutes before half time, Gunning opened the scoring with a try, and the Highlanders responded shortly after the break with a try of their own.
The score was 4-4 at three quarter time, but the Roos' confidence appeared to grow in the final quarter as they scored again and had the general run of play.
With five minutes to spare, and trailing 8-4, Sykes didn't lose faith in his players.
"They'll never capitulate," he said.
"I told them to back themselves the last five minutes ... I'm really happy with their resolve, in the last couple of minutes there was a lot of satisfaction for them."
In the dying minutes of the match, young hooker Angus Marshall - who Sykes said had "probably been our best player this year" - started a play from dummy half which resulted in another try for the Highlanders.
The scores were level at 8-8, and the blustery gusts of wind had made kicking a nightmare all through the game.
Neither side had made a conversion up to that point, but Highlanders five-eighth Scott Boughton was not phased and proceeded to secure a two-point lead for his team.
Despite Gunning's best efforts, they could not regain possession before the final buzzer went, and the Highlanders walked away with an unlikely victory to retain their unbeaten record in 2020.
After the match, Sykes was full of praise for Gunning's bloody-minded refusal to back down, and acknowledged that things hadn't gone to plan for the Highlanders.
"They play that really tough defensive game in the ruck," he said.
"Conditions haven't suited us either time we've played, we're looking for a dry pitch.
"We're not exactly executing the way we're training, but that'll come. As long as we peak in the last game, that's all we need to do."
With this win, the Highlanders are now three from three. However, they will drop to second on the ladder, as the Bungendore Tigers' 20-8 win over Burranjong sees them leapfrog to first due to a superior for-and-against ratio.
The Highlanders will look to reverse that change this weekend, when they take on Burranjong Bears in Boorowa. The match will be played on Sunday, August 23, from 2pm at the Boorowa Showground.
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