The visitors won a sometimes spiteful game 3-2 but it was courageous effort from the Dubbo team against a side that is currently running third on the Country Energy table.

“Stu should be very proud of himself, he played a great game and the thing is he is only 14,” coach Andrew Johnston said.

“As he gets older he will get better.”

Another young Crows forward Kurt Ward also polled well for the award, scored a goal on Saturday and has been putting together some good performances.

The Crows were under the pump early with Souths enjoying good field position and ball possession. The Crows saved a short corner but soon after Souths scored for a 1-0 advantage.

A few chances went begging with a few of the Crows finding room in the Souths circle but the shot either just went wide or the keeper saved it.

That pressure turned into a goal for the Crows when Kurt Ward cleaned up some good work from Matthew Morris and Johnston.

With the scores 1-all on half time Johnson was keen on his side’s chances as Souths became frustrated and their discipline was down.

“All we needed to do was to keep hold of the ball and work for short corners and the goals would come,” the coach said.

And that’s what happened when after six minutes Matthew Edwards converted a short corner and it was 2-1 up with 29 minutes left on the clock.

The goal shocked Souths and they lifted their intensity.

With one of many penalty corners that they had, a shot was saved by Weekes in goal for the Crows but the ball rebounded out to Souths captain Adam Campbell who found the back of the net.

The game really turned on its head after that with some heated exchanges before yellow cards were served out to Dubbo’s David Hurst and Souths’ Daniel Carter.

After they both returned from five minutes in the dug out, Souths kept forcing their hand in trying to find that goal.

More penalty corner saves from Weekes frustrated the away team but after a mix up Souths got their noses in front 3-2 with eight minutes left on the clock.

After they scored the goal Souths had a bit to say and pretty much provoked key defender Edwards into push and shove, which saw him receive a yellow card.

To their credit the Crows fought right to the end, trying to work a short corner to try to draw the match up after the bell but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

“In the sheds after the game you could really tell that it meant a lot to these young guys and how close we were to an upset,” Johnston said.

This week the Crows should be back to full strength when they take on arch rivals Parkes Magpies.