Parkes' young Spacemen had their work cut out for them in the junior feature of Sunday's twin town contest.
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It wasn't until the final minutes of the game that the Under 18s were able to break through the Forbes defence, with Tye Toomey scoring the try the side had been working for for nearly 60 minutes.
Forbes Magpies scored within minutes of the kick-off, winger Jake Roberts the first to cross the line.
Parkes applied some pressure in the first half, but Forbes' defence held strong and when the young Spacies did cross the line they were called back for a forward pass.
It was Forbes hooker Joey Morrison who scored the only other points for the half, crossing the line to give the visitors a 10-point lead at half time.
Parkes captain Charlie Mahon said that 30-minute effort was one of the best he's seen from his squad so far this season, and he couldn't have been prouder of their efforts.
But the Magpies had bigger things to come in the second half.
The Spacies lost powerful centre Malakai Folau for 10 minutes, and Forbes' points added up with tries to Harry Scott, Dominic Calvani, Campbell Rubie and Preston Thorpe extending the Magpies' lead to 28 points.
Parkes got the ball down their end and applied the pressure, but the Magpies were successful in holding them up in three separate attempts to get over the try-line.
Back at the Forbes end the Magpies couldn't be stopped, this time it was Matty Duke who crossed with Jake Roberts adding the extras to see Forbes up 0-34 just six minutes out from full time.
Parkes finally broke through with just three minutes to go, Tye Toomey scoring and Kaid Lydford good with the kick for a 6-34 final scoreline.
Forbes coach Ben Godden could hardly be unhappy with that - although he rued the errors that did give Parkes their opportunities.
"They held up well (in defence), I was very very happy with that, very pleased," he said.
Parkes' Charlie Mahon was proud of his side's efforts against a solid Forbes side.
"I couldn't be prouder of the boys," he said. "Especially when they had 12 boys out there, when Mal wasn't on.
"It was just the one-out stuff from Forbes, the second-phase play, all our offloads ... just killed us all game."