Orange Emus end Orange City's Blowes Clothing Cup finals hopes

With that in mind, it only seemed fitting it was their cross-town rivals Emus who stood in their way.

With a raucous home crowd behind them, it was the Lions who shot out of the gates and went into the break up 17-7 thanks to tries from Gordon James, Josateki Masibalavu and Don Dundas.

"We knew coming into this that we had to respect them and that first 20 minutes, they were all over us, we didn't know what to do," Emus blindside-flanker Sam Greatbatch said.

It was during the half-time break that Emus coach Nigel Staniforth gave his side "a spray" to remember and the game flipped on its head.

"We were on after that," Greatbatch added.

Although it was the Lions who struck first in the second 40, it was one-way traffic for most of the half.

The visitors rattled off three straight tries to tie the game at 24-all.

A converted penalty goal to Harry West from right in front put the home side up by three with time ticking down, but a try to Charlie Steele-Park saw Emus go ahead for the first time all game.

Try as they might, the Lions were unable to find a score after the siren and the game would finish 31-27 in favour of Emus.

With Dubbo doing away with Forbes 50-5, Roos leapfrogged City into fourth spot.

"They had the whole season to lose. We didn't have much to lose, but we just had to respect them and I feel like we did that," Greatbatch said.

Although Emus' Harry Webster said it was a nice bonus to knock City out of finals contention, their main focus was getting right for a grand-final qualifier against Bathurst Bulldogs on August 12.

"Having momentum on your way into finals, you need that. You're not starting from square one again," he said.

"We've got something to build on here and that second half, going into Bathurst, we're going to need to bring that from the get-go."

Greatbatch agreed.

"There were a lot of silly penalties and some things we'll need to work on before we come up against Bathurst next week, but that effort from us in that last 20 was just unreal," he added.

"We'll need to give them everything."

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