Mounties have won their round 19 VB NSW Cup match against the Manly Sea Eagles at Aubrey Keech Reserve on Saturday giving handing them a four point win as they head into next weeks bye.
Mounties made the perfect start when Jack Ahearn slotted into the backline and delivered a perfect cutout pass to Mosese Pangai who strolled over for the opening points with Mitch Cornish making it 6-0 with the conversion and on the next set Clay Priest broke the line and outpaced the cover to score in the corner to make it 10-0 after the conversion shaved the posts.
Manly then grabbed some field position and in the 12th minute they crossed through Luaki to make it 10-6 with the kick.
In the 18 the minute Kyle O'Donnell capped off a great start to the match when he crashed over under the posts to make it 16-6 with the Cornish conversion and Mounties looked like they might open up a to a big lead when in the 23rd minute Jack Ahearn and Cornish pulled out a rehearsed play which saw Ahearn in space and with Cornish able to convert his try Mounties led 22-6.
Manly then got one back when a grubber got a horror deflection off a Mounties defender and Dominic Rierdon was on the spot to clean up and make it 22-12 just before the break.
Mounties enjoyed a half time lead of ten points and looked to extend that early in the second half when Dave Cahalane burst through the line and found Ahearn backing up on the inside to get his second and make it 28-12 with the conversion but Manly stuck to their plan and in the 54th minute Tony Satini got his name on the score board when he took advantage of a deflected kick and was able to score and make it 28-16 and give the visitors a chance of a comeback.
A few minutes later Delroy Berrryman was in after Manly were gifted field position by referee Hartup and with the score at 28-20 it was anybody's game.
In the 62nd minute the Cornish / Foster combination came alive with Foster busting the line and finding the try line with the desperate defence holding on to no avail and the missed conversion saw Mounties hold a twelve point lead of 32-20 with sixteen minutes remaining.
Manly weren't out of it though and in the 70th minute it was Berryman again who crossed out wide after finding some space and it was 32-24 after the failed conversion.
Both teams then traded field position until another dubious penalty saw Manly marched down field and on the last play a chip kick from Littlejohn saw Berryman get the ball and make a break done the right edge.
With only minutes remaining Berryman kicked through again and with the cover converging made a desperate dive for the ball in the in goal only to miss it completely and hand it over to Mounties but inexplicably referee Hartup ruled a try and Mounties were left to see Manly close the gap to 32-30.
Manly threw everything at the home team in the final minutes with Mounties defence good enough to hold on for the win.
Mounties also enjoyed wins in the Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield with the RMCup boys defeating Auburn 30-26 while the Shield defeated Auburn by 26-22.
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