The reigning champions fell to Bathurst by a margin of four in last week’s opening tie, 402-398, but still fancy their chances with a small differential to overcome when they host Dubbo on Thursday and Friday.

Not only do the Hornets need to win this week by at least five points – cancelling out last week’s margin – but they also need Dubbo to beat Bathurst in the competition’s final tie next week.

Given the Hornets don’t control their own destiny Orange High Astley Cup coordinator Tegan Dray says her side can’t afford to get ahead of itself and look any further ahead than this week.

“We can’t worry too much about what Bathurst are going to do.  We need to worry about us,” Dray said.

“We’re hoping but we’re being realistic … we expect Dubbo to be very strong. We’ll see what happens.”

Orange High has plenty of work ahead of it this week, with a number of challenging fixtures on the horizon. 

A fixture that jumps off the schedule is Friday’s rugby league clash, Dubbo brings a star-studded side to Orange that includes two NSW Country guns and handful of other Western Rams stars.

But, as Dray said, the rugby league is just one of eight sports, all of which carry equal importance in the overall scheme.

“Athletics had a good showing last week, (boys’ and girls’) soccer should be pretty even, we know it’ll be close in netball and basketball,” Dray said, highlighting just how close this tie could be as well.

The hockey fixture is one Orange High will be targeting, considering the strength of its side in 2017.

The Hornets head into Friday’s hockey clash on the back of a stunning 4-0 victory over Bathurst, led by NSW representative Eva Reith-Snare, who scored each of the goals.

“Our girls hockey team is always very strong,” Dray said, before speaking about home ground advantage.

“(Hosting Dubbo is) always an advantage, but you never know what’s going to happen on the day.”