A strong Roos side was named for the clash, with a number of players with first garde experience lining up, but they didn't have things all their own way against a very spirited Gorillas side.

With scores locked at 6-6 at halftime, a Mata penalty provided the only points of the second half and coach Vince Gordon said he was happy with his side's efforts in their first competitive match of 2014.

"We worked hard during the game and we came away with the reward," he said.

"We would have liked a bit of a better pre-season but it is what it is and the boys dug deep and they're showing signs they're keen to do well."

Mata kicked two penalties before halftime, as did Narromine's Harry Buttsworth and while they both missed opportunities to in the second half, Mata had the chance to claim the win inside the last five minutes when the Gorillas gave away anther penalty and from right in front the classy playmaker made no mistake.

With players such as Mata, Josh Sinisa, James Dodd and newcomer Max Ma'a-Nelson all expecting to push for first grade spots in the coming weeks, Gordon said he was happy to put pressure on the Roos top side and was hoping for the third grade side, who didn't play due to Narromine not having a third grade side, to be putting pressure on his players.

"First grade want to go well and we want to push them," he said.

"We've got some work to do on our thirds to get them going and making seconds better but it's hard because there's only five clubs that have thirds."

Gordon said a win on the first day of the season was just what he wanted but admitted there was plenty of work to be done, with ball control the biggest problem to come out of the game.

"I think we played well, it was a scrappy game and Narromine played a spoiling game but we kept to our structure," he said.

"We dropped a lot of ball so if we could have kept hold of the ball and played with the structure we did it would have been a better result.

"We were hoping for a few tries but we dropped too much ball and we were close to breaking them but they dug deep too and they showed plenty of heart, especially in defence."

Gordon also praised Mata for his kicking and work at flyhalf while Sinisa led from the front and Ma'a-Nelson showed glimpses of his talents which could make him a real fan favourite and the coach said despite the handling errors, the commitment of his side couldn't be criticised.

"We wanted to play sensibly and not give them a chance and that's what we did and we allowed James (Mata) to play good, sound, smart footy."