Cowra Magpies assistant coach Steve Sutton could do little but give Willie Heta and his Orange Hawks due credit at Sid Kallas Oval on Friday afternoon after the two blues edged out last year's beaten grand finalists to score their second straight win of the Group 10 premier league season.
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The Magpies were hit hard by injuries prior to the clash, but Sutton simply said the two blues were too good in claiming a 21-14 win, a victory that was put beyond doubt by Matt Boss' 78th minute field goal.
"[Hawks] were just too good in the end, they deserved to win," Sutton said.
"The old injury curse has hit us this year, we lost Zach Browne last night and Bradyn Cassidy, so they both pulled out which meant we had a reshuffle straight away.
"We just didn't stick to what we set out to do. We know how we want to play the game and ... we just didn't stick to what we've been working on ... which pulled us out of shape a bit. That led to a few errors.
"It was probably a better performance than [in last week's 24-12 loss to Mudgee] but we're still not where we want to be."
Sutton went on to lament a lack of cohesion in the loss as well, although his side actually opened the scoring through Lee McClintlock, with Logan Harris' conversion giving the hosts a 6-nil lead at the 17-minute mark.
Hawks hit back and then took a 10-8 lead through Jordan Baker and then Eman Rodriguez, the two tries coming in as many minutes midway through the opening half, with Duncan Young converting the second.
Baker crossed for his second two out from the break and Young converted, extending Hawks' lead to 16-8 until Warren Williams scored the first of his second-half double to slash the gap to a converted try just after half-time.
Rodriguez pushed the two blues' lead back to 10 with 12 minute to go though and despite Williams' second five minutes later the Magpies couldn't cut into the margin any more, Boss nailing his field goal attempt with two minutes to go to put the game to bed.
The Magpies' loss leaves the team winless after two rounds, but Sutton remained optimistic, with matches against Lithgow (at home) then Blayney (away) in consecutive weeks.
"...If we win next week, we're in exactly the same position as we were 12 months ago. For three rounds, we were one from three last year, so [if] we can get these points next week we're going to be in exactly the same boat," Sutton said.
"We've got Blayney the week after that which is a very winnable game, we go 2 from 4, and hopefully build a bit of momentum off the back of that.
"Once again though, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, we've just gotta get this win in the bank next week."
- ORANGE HAWKS 21 (Eman Rodriguez 2, Jordan Baker 2 tries; Duncan Young 2 goals; Matt Boss field goal) def COWRA MAGPIES 14 (Warren Williams 2, Lee McClintlock tries; Logan Harris goal)
