Trailing 14/12 after the opening quarter, Dennis Moran’s men produced four unanswered tries to lead 34/14 at the break and it appeared a matter of by how far.

To their credit, Westside regrouped and won the second half 20/10 to provide a few heart flutters in the Spacemen camp, notably at 38/34 after 66 minutes.

Ultimately, Parkes scored eight tries to seven, with the boot of Cameron Standen (six from eight) essentially providing the buffer between the evenly matched sides.

It was far from a contest of the defensive purist, with plenty of dropped ball, failure to complete the sets, and point a minute scoring.

But Moran, still searching for his lost car keys, was surprisingly upbeat at his post match press conference.

He referred to improved completion rates and the go forward of his bigger men, while suggesting there was plenty of scope for improvement and refinement in the Spacemen effort as the season develops.

Despite their indifferent form, the Spacemen are three from four ahead of the home game against Narromine this Sunday.

While welcoming the return of Ben Nash, Parkes were without fullback Sam Dwyer who suffered a knee injury while scoring a try in Western Ram’s 32/20 loss to Southern at Camden on Saturday.

Dwyer’s team mate Brendan Tago, who played soundly for Western, produced an 80 minute effort on Sunday and was critical to the Spacemen cause.

While Tago and Nash were solid, Anthony Redfern was voted Players layer while two try Cain Henry, two try Luke Clarke and 16 point contributor, Cameron Stranden were also conspicuous.

Indeed, Standen, with 38 points in four outings, was again a real standout, especially when Westside appeared to be gaining the upper hand in the second half.

Winger Brandon Paige also won widespread praise in what Moran described as one of his most influential matches for the Spacemen in a long productive career.

Earlier Parkes Reserves were well beaten 34/18 in a sub par performance, but the Juniors and League Tag both won decisively.

Welcoming back their representative stars, the Juniors beat third placed Westside 30/14 after leading 22/0 at the break in a polished first half effort.

While Ella J Harris and Sally Dwyer were beaten 30/6 in their Western Rams outing at Camden, both girls were back on deck as Michael Dumesny’s outfit remained unbeaten by dethroning 2015 premiers, Westside 42/0, after leading 26/0 at halftime.

A rib injury to star half Alex Prout further disrupted the Parkes preparation for the main game, forcing wholesale changes to the starting side.

Parkes started poorly, with Westside twice regaining the ball from a short kick-off into a slight breeze on a superb playing surface before a healthy audience on a sun drenched afternoon.

Capitalising on poor Parkes defence, Westside scored good tries after three and 10 minutes, sandwiched by a neat Josh Amberge try.

Down 6/10 before patrons had settled in their vantage points, Parkes returned the compliment by regaining the kick-off and three sets later, Luke Clarke strolled over beside the posts for 12/10.

Again the visitors responded with a Coe try from a chip kick, but Parkes came back when Jake Porter made ground for the evergreen Epi Sadrodro to burrow his way over from 12 metres.

Ahead 18/12 after 23 frenzied minutes, Parkes inexplicably failed to find touch from a penalty but recovered after a long Brandon Paige surge, resulting in Clarke’s second try in the Corner Boys section.

Minutes later, Cain Henry bustled over from dummy half for Parkes’ third try in 10 minutes and a 28/14 advantage.

That was extended to 34/14 when Standen cleverly toed a lost ball and dived fearlessly to regain it millimetres from the dead ball line.

Westside were denied a try on the siren for a forward pass and the players trooped off to oranges at 34/14.

Westside capitalised on Parkes handling errors when play resumed, two unconverted tries in nine minutes reducing the margin to 34/22.

Parkes this time regained the kick-off for Tago to bustle over for 38/22.

But again Westside replied on the back of a penalty for 38/28 on the hour.

That lead became 38/34 three minutes later, again on the back of a Parkes error as Westside were invited right into the contest.

In a frantic final 13 minutes, both sides squandered numerous opportunities, until the 73rd minute when Henry capped a superb effort with a great try on the sixth tackle after Parkes kept the ball alive.

The final hooter produced a collective sigh of relief as the Spacemen gratefully accepted the two points and the prospect of more homework ahead of Narromine in Parkes next Sunday, following by assignments with Cyms and Forbes.

Veteran referee Troy Warner controlled an incident free match well and contributed to the spectacle.

Parkes 44 (L Clarke 2, C Henry 2, C Standen, J Amberge, B Tago, E Sadrodro tries; Standen 6 goals) defeated Westside 34 (S Coe, C Ahsee, E Fernando, R Fuller, K Fuller, C Ashby, T Hill tries; G Fernando 2, P Jones goals) on Jock Colley Field.

Penalties - 6 all.  Referee - Troy Warner. Gate - $2,531.