Fishies powerhouse Jeremy Thurston's two tries were the highlight for an otherwise scrappy CYMS side that scored a 24-18 victory at Parkes on Sunday.
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The two tries showcased the all-round quality of Thurston's game and moved him to 13 four-pointers for the season, one less than both Desi Doolan and Corin Smith.
After a determined Parkes shot out to a 12-0 lead early at Pioneer Oval, Thurston showcased his strength when powering over from close range to get his side on the board 18 minutes into the first half.
He made the shift from centres to fullback in the second stanza and produced a smart and perfectly-timed run to haul in a Jordi Madden grubber and score what turned out to be the match-winner on 70 minutes after things had been locked at 18-all.
The Fishies scored five-tries-to-three on Sunday and Brad Pickering only landed two conversions in the breezy conditions.
The competition's leading point-scorer, Chad Porter, continued his fine season for Parkes as he scored a double and kicked three-from-three.
Parkes were without suspended forwards Will Wardle and Tikoko Noke but started with real motivation as a win was needed to boost hopes of a top two finish in the Group 11 pool.
Instead, the Spacemen remain fourth and sit a win behind the second-placed Macquarie Raiders and one point behind Forbes.
"We didn't get things on our terms but I said all week it was just a case of coming over and getting the job done and moving on," Dubbo CYMS coach Shawn Townsend said.
"There's a bit of improvement left. We were in a really good groove after we beat Forbes (on July 2) and then we had a week off (bye) and some blokes went away and we didn't train on the Friday night.
"If we had played last week maybe the preparation would have been a bit better but we got the win and that's the main thing."
The win was extra pleasing for CYMS given their preparation for the match was far from ideal, with key players out due to injury and illness.
Parkes was also hampered throughout the match as fullback Joey Dwyer and centre Jim Dabea exited with injuries in the first half while captain-coach and five-eighth Jack Creith played the full 80 minutes despite suffering a nasty dislocated thumb before half-time.
The injuries, on top of the loss of Wardle and Noke, tested Parkes' depth and that combined with a number of errors in possession at key times in the second half proved costly.
Both sides felt hard done by at different points in the second half after disallowed tries but Creith admitted a lack of respect for the ball cost his team.
"We put ourselves in some good spots and worked really hard in defence, and we did all we were asked to do but the ball slips away a few times when you try and push, and offload and you can't do that against CYMS," Creith said post-game.
"We had a lot of defence (in that second half) and every time we had the ball we threw it away. It was probably four or five times we gave the ball away.
"But you can feel it coming. It's there and it's really, really close and that's as good as a test as you're going to get against these fellas."
The result marked back-to-back losses for Parkes after defeat to Orange Hawks a week prior, but Creith insists the belief is still there.
"It might hurt the coach because he's come back (from injury) the past two games," Creith laughed.
"But in saying that the formula is there and the players are there. The effort was there today and you could have predicted this game was going to be 24-18 today. You just didn't know which way it was going to go and I feel CYMS would have felt the same.
"It just wasn't ours."
- DUBBO CYMS 24 (Jeremy Thurston 2, Riley Wake, Luke Jenkins, Corey Drew tries; Brad Pickering 2 goals) defeated PARKES SPACEMEN 18 (Chad Porter 2, James Parsons tries; Chad Porter 3 goals)
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