WHEN Bathurst Bulldogs fullback Sarah Colman planted the ball down in the second half of Saturday's top of the table Ferguson Cup clash with the Dubbo Kangaroos at Ashwood Park it was a reward for endless effort from the home side.
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That try broke a nil-all deadlock which had lasted nearly 40 minutes, and it eventually helped the Bulldogs end the Kangaroos' winning streak in a hard fought 10-5 result.
Relentless Bulldogs offence and tireless Kangaroos defence was the story of the match throughout the entire hour's play, as the competition-leading 'Roos didn't enjoy much time in possession outside of their own half.
But Dubbo denied Bulldogs time after time until the first points finally came after the half-time break.
Colman scored all 10 of the Bulldogs' points, adding a conversion and a penalty to her tally, while a try for Kangaroos inside centre Danielle Plummer with three minutes to go led to an exciting finish.
The 'Roos did get one more opportunity in possession but the hosts held strong to end Dubbo's six-game winning streak against them.
Colman hopes the result marks the start of the team taking things up to another level in the run towards finals.
"It's always a highlight when you can score against Dubbo. To be as involved as I was was quite nice," she said.
"When I went over the line and got into space I was already celebrating so I was glad I ended up putting the ball down.
"This Dubbo team are so good. Scoring the try and then getting the win, I hope it really helps our season tick along."
Dubbo beat the Bulldogs on their home turf 12-7 earlier in the year and then held the Bathurst to a rare scoreless game in a 17-0 result when they met for the second time.
Colman said that to turn things around Bulldogs knew they needed a better attitude when things weren't going their way.
"We stuck to our structures this week, which is something that we worked really hard on at training," she said.
"We talked about the need to stay in the game and be around each other when things don't go right, like some of that dropped ball today. We didn't put our heads down and that's why we got up.
"They put the pressure on us towards the end with that try but credit to us because we defended right to the end against a very good team."
Tiana Anderson and Emily Blasig each made promising runs down the right edge for the Bulldogs inside the first 20 minutes but they didn't amount to points.
The Roos didn't get out of their own half until 11 minutes had passed.
Dubbo fullback Alahna Ryan was the livewire for her side in the opening half, making several strong runs on the wings to get her team out of danger.
A yellow card for Roos star Janalee Conroy towards the end of the half gave the Bulldogs an opportunity to forge ahead but once again the Dubbo defence still had an answer for everything.
Points finally arrived when Bulldogs moved towards the right wing before Colman cut back inside to find the space to score near the uprights.
Dubbo were penalised just a few minutes later for not releasing the ball while deep in their own territory, allowing Colman to put her team 10 points clear with a penalty.
Kangaroos charged down a Bulldogs kick deep in Bathurst territory and on the next phase Plummer scored on the left wing to give the leaders a late scare.
To save time Dubbo elected not to take the conversion.
After a tense final 90 seconds of play the hosts could eventually celebrate an important success against a Dubbo squad who have narrowly had their measure in recent meetings.
BATHURST BULLDOGS 10 (Sarah Colman try; Colman conversion; Colman penalty goal) defeated DUBBO KANGAROOS 5 (Danielle Plummer try)
