The Spacecats scored a vital 24 – 10 win over the Forbes Magpies on Sunday to secure a place in the Group XI Grand Final. It was a happy Father’s Day for the Spacecats as the last team to fly the Parkes banner high and proud as their drive for a spot in the final proved to be greater than rivals Forbes.
Forbes started the clock with a great kick and Parkes making great ground through five sets of hands to allow Demi Winter to put the first points on the board. Next points came from a successful penalty by Claire Barber to take Parkes’ lead to 6.
Forbes came back five and a half minutes before the break to level the scores, but was soon answered by Parkes scoring with under a minute remaining of the first half. In the second half Forbes scored the first points, but Captain Hannah Kelly put in a great kick that Forbes knocked on 5 metres from the try line. Spacecats made the most of the Magpies error and Shayna Male broke through the Forbes defence with Claire adding the extras to put Spacecats in an 18 – 10 lead.
A Magpies penalty allowed the Parkes tally to go up by another 4, and Claire, with another awesome strike took Parkes to 24. This last 6.5 minutes was the most physical a non contact sport can get with the Spacecats playing well until the sound of the full time bell.
Congratulations to 1.Claire Barber, 2.Brittney Ryan, 3.Sarah McAneney, 4.Hannah Kelly, 6.Ella-J Harris, 7.Sally Dwyer, 8.Demi Winter, 9.Katie Caldwell, 10.Sami Afele, 11.Emma Bayley, 12.Sam Cox, 13.Codie Wakefield, 14.Louise McAneney, 15.Nat Gardiner, 16.Emeline Lavaka, 17.Shayna Male, 20.Brittany Dumesny and Michael, Rock, Tim and Ricky.
Group XI Grand Final is on Sunday at Caltex Park in Dubbo. We need all the support we can get to cheer us on.
By Kim Ryan