The Wingham Tigers' quest for their first premiership since 2004 ended on Sunday in the preliminary final at the Port Macquarie Regional Stadium against the Port City Breakers.
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The Tigers got off to a bad start, trailing 10-0 after five minutes, and having fullback Blake Sky take no further part in the game through concussion.
But Wingham started clawing its way back into the game when Michael Bailey scored in the corner after quarter of an hour.
Five minutes later, Michael Bailey was in again following a left edge raid.
Matt Bridge added the extra points to level the scores at 10-10.
Fortune favoured the home team when a grubber kick hit the post and rebounded to a Breakers player to score under the posts.
Five minutes from the break, Tyler Atkins scored from a Trent Green cross field bomb, and the Tigers went into half time trailing 16-14.
Ten minutes into the second half, Wingham hit the lead after Michael Rees stripped the ball one-on-one and dived over to score.
Michael Bailey converted the try for a 20-16 advantage.
Minutes later, the Tigers should have gone further ahead when a high bomb was spilled, and landed in the hands of Tyler Atkins who raced away to be scoring under the posts, only to have the referee rule that a Wingham player was in front of the kicker.
Midway through the stanza, Port City threw the ball from one side of the field to the other on the last tackle, eventuating in a try under the posts, regaining the lead 22-20.
Another try to the home team five minutes later, with a sideline conversion put the Breakers ahead 28-20 with time running out.
Then a long kick into the in-goal area resulted in a Port City flyer touch down just inches from the ball going dead, and a 34-20 lead.
With five minutes remaining, after the Tigers failed to find touch with a penalty, the Breakers threw the ball wide and scored in the corner to seal a 38-20 victory, eliminating the Tigers from the competition.
(Michael Bailey 2, Tyler Atkins, Michael Rees tries, Matt Bridge, Michael Bailey goals)
The grand final will again be an all Port Macquarie affair.
Congratulations to Ben Welsh who came off the bench to play his 200th first grade game, just weeks after Luke Steel achieved the same feat.
It has been a great year for the Tigers, securing their best finish in nearly a decade.
They only lost six games all season, but unfortunately four of them were against the Port City Breakers.
Presentation night
The Wingham Tigers presentation night will be held at 6pm on Saturday September 24 at the Wingham Town Hall.
Tickets are $25 each and go on sale this week.