OBERON again fell agonisingly short in a thriller against competition co-leaders Orange Hawks last Sunday, going down 28-24 at Wade Park.
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Having captain/coach Josh Starling sitting on the sidelines serving a four-match suspension has seen the Tigers slide from a top four position to seventh on the table.
With a reshuffled line-up and local Ryan Thompson making his debut off the bench, the Tigers couldn't stay with the Hawks early in the game.
After 18 minutes of play, Hawks had already opened up a 16-0 lead, which could have been even worse as the home side bombed another three tries.
Just as the Oberon supporters were bracing for a cold and miserable afternoon, Tye Simmonds and Abel Lefaoseu, returning from injury, were injected into the game to shore up the Tigers' pack.
With Blake Fitzpatrick producing a stellar 'players' player' and man of the match performance, the Tigers managed to fight their way back into the game.
After good lead-up work from Matt Ranse and with momentum swinging the Tigers' way, Richie Peckham produced his trademark burrowing try to open the Tigers' account 16-6 with halftime four minutes away.
As the siren sounded for the break, Oberon were hammering the Hawks' tryline, but just couldn't convert the effort into points.
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That certainly wasn't the case as the teams entered the field for the second half. The Tigers exploded out of the blocks and, before the crowd could re-take their seats, Farren Lamb had regathered his own chip kick to find Ranse in support. Summing up the situation quickly, Ranse sent a crossfield grubber kick for Elias Dukes to swoop on and score out wide.
Lamb sent a mighty conversion over the black dot to have the Tigers within striking distance at 16-12.
With the Tigers now on fire and enjoying a large share of possession, Tye Simmonds made one of his bullocking runs to drag Hawks defenders over the line and give the visitors an 18-16 lead for the first time in the game with 30 minutes remaining.
From the resumption of play, Jacob Howes fielded the ball and took off downfield in a long, searching run to immediately have the Tigers back on the attack and pressing the Hawks' tryline.
To his credit, Hawks captain/coach Willie Heta regathered his troops and soon had the competition leaders back in control.
With the Hawks back on the attack, Oberon couldn't hold out as centre Lawrence Fogg crossed for his second of the day to retake the lead for the home side.
With the Hawks up 22-18, play stretched from one end of the field to the other as the sides settled in for the final arm-wrestle to determine the winner.
As momentum seemed to shift back to the Tigers within the final 10 minutes, Hawks managed to post what looked to be a game-ending try to give themselves a 28-18 buffer.
Inside the final five minutes, Oberon's stand-in captain Jackson Brien was urging his troops on and leading from the front as he tore into the Hawks defenders. With 90 seconds remaining, Brien was rewarded for his efforts as he crossed under the posts.
Lamb converted to bring the scoreline to 28-24 as the desperate Tigers players raced back into position for one final, last gasp assault to rescue the result.
The siren, however, soon put paid to the Tigers' hopes, with the crowd leaving the ground in full appreciation of both sides' efforts on the day.
The under 18s fought hard to stay in touch 20-16 at halftime in their game, but eventually went down 34-16, while the league tag girls couldn't overcome the second-placed Hawks.
Oberon host St Pat's this Sunday at the Oberon Leagues Club ground. League tag will start at 10.30am and premier league will kick-off at 2.15pm.
With only three home matches left this season, the Tigers will be looking for a big crowd to show up.