First grade captain coach Jack Creith was obviously disappointed, but said he'd had plenty of feedback on the quality of the contest and credited Forbes' passion and determination on the day.

Parkes never stopped taking it to Forbes: the Magpies had to work hard in defence and they did, inspired by a big reunion crowd at Spooner Oval to a 20-12 win.

In a blow for the Spacies, Poniparte Musunamasi suffered a season-ending broken leg early in the game, and Will Wardle a head knock.

Forbes captain Nick Greenhalgh described the game as "unbelievable".

The Magpies wore blue "return to the nest" jerseys in a nod to the original Forbes Federals rugby league club as Under 18s premiership sides from the 1980s and 1990s converged on the ground.

That vocal crowd was rewarded with an solid display of rugby league, the intensity from both sides unwavering.

"It's always a big day - Parkes against Forbes - and the boys really turned up," Greenhalgh said.

"We sort of took it a bit personally after the long weekend after they dusted us over there so it was good to get one back home."

It took more than 15 minutes for the scoreboard to move from nil-all, the Magpies' Ben Maguire crossing in the corner to put Forbes ahead 4-0.

Maguire's second came in that same spot a short time later when he collected a pass from Zeke Hartwig as the Parkes defence pushed the winger out in the corner and Forbes was up 8-0.

Parkes was applying plenty of pressure, with seemingly the bulk of the possession at their end, but the hosts' defence held strong.

Zeke Hartwig got over the line himself and Nick Greenhalgh added the extras to see Forbes up 14-0 at half time.

Parkes' first points came shortly after the sin-binning of Forbes number 11 Charlie Lennon in the second half.

The Spacemen gained some momentum and Tikiko Rokodelana muscled over the try line to narrow the gap to 14-6 - but the Magpies were unfazed.

Mitch Andrews crossed - and Greenhalgh added the extras - to extend Forbes' lead to 20-6 and although Rokodelana got through again to bring it to 20-12 with 12 minutes to go the Magpies' hard work in defence paid off.

"Parkes kept coming and we knew they would - they can score points quick - so on a lopsided penalty count we had a lot of defence," Forbes coach Cameron Greenhalgh said.

"We seemed to be defending a lot, right to the end we were defending hard ... they were tough, they kept coming."

Creith's focus now turns to his side's home game against Wellington this weekend, realistically likely to be the Spacies' fans final home game for the season.

He'll rally his troops this week toward the goal of winning that game - and the ones that follow.

The Spacemen now sit in fourth place on the Peter McDonald Premiership Group 11 ladder, behind Forbes in third. Dubbo CYMS are on top and Dubbo Macquarie in second.

In the Group 10 pool Mudgee Dragons lead Orange CYMS, Bathurst St Pats sit in third and Bathurst Panthers fourth.

"This week we'll want to create a bit of momentum," Creith said.

"We've got Wellington at home and then it looks like we will have Bathurst St Pat's at their home semi-final."

The Spacemen are pretty keen to reverse a Round 1 result where St Pat's came back from a 20-nil first half deficit to steal their thunder at Pioneer Oval.

"We've got do-or-die footy so our goal is to win five in a row - that'll take us to the other side of the grand finals," Creith said.

"We're focussed and very, very excited."

Wardle - assisted off the field after the knock to the head in the second half of Saturday's game - spent the night in hospital and Creith said they'd await clearance and medical advice before saying whether he'd take the field this weekend or rest up for finals.