One way or another, something special is going to play out over the next two days as the 2017 edition of the Astley Cup comes to a climax.
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Dubbo College will host the final tie of the inter-school sports competition over the next two days, and while it will take an enormous effort for them to win the title, Bathurst High needs to win if they want to claim the cup.
Orange High will sit back and cheer on Dubbo College, after finishing with a win and a loss from their two outings, knowing that only a win to the hosts will hand them the coveted title, now in its 95th year.
“It’s great that the winner will be decided in the final tie, and even though it’s a tall task for us to win it overall, we can have a big say in who does win it,” Dubbo College sports coordinator Craig May said.
“Last week was a little disappointing for us. We minimised the damage in one of our weak areas in the hockey, but didn’t capitalise on our strengths in league and soccer.
“But our teams are determined to improve. Our goal is to beat Bathurst, and if that hands the cup to Orange then so be it.”
Play gets underway on Wednesday morning with the tennis contest, with the other day one sports being netball, basketball and athletics.
Day two will comprise of hockey, rugby league, girls soccer and boys soccer.
“Bathurst are very strong in tennis but if we can win a few sets that will help.
“The netball should be a terrific contest. Orange has beaten both sides by similar margins so there’s not much between the sides, and our basketball boys should improve.
“Athletics was a bit disappointing last week but we have John Hill returning for the 1500m and we fancy our chances in a few other events.
“Hockey will again be a challenge but we have a terrific goalkeeper in Lilli-Rai Campbell so if we can get a goal or two on the board we could go alright there.
“The rugby league boys were disappointed last week, even though they won, and they will need to play the match out, not just one good half.
“Our soccer sides are both very strong and they’re looking to improve on a pair of draws last week.
“We fancy ourselves to win a few sports, and if we can win them with some good buffers anything can happen.
“Hopefully the people of Dubbo will get out and about over the next couple of days and help cheer the teams on.”
