Forbes Magpies fight back to defeat Orange Hawks in Peter McDonald Premiership

After some mixed results away from home in recent weeks, the Magpies returned to Spooner Oval for the Peter McDonald Premiership crossover match and got back towards their best in the 36-14 victory.

After having star lock Jake Grace sin-binned in the first 40 minutes and trailing Hawks 10-6 at the break, youngsters Lennon and Martin starred in the second stanza and powered the hosts to victory.

"I said before the game defence was probably going to be the key to winning this game - and be really solid in defence - and our attack will come," Greenhalgh said.

"We needed to just be patient ... with our tries in the end which is what we do at training and that's what's getting us points.

"That's what we need to be doing leading into the semis in a couple of weeks - doing what we do at training."

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The win keeps the Magpies' hopes of a top two finish in the Group 11 pool alive.

Dubbo CYMS has top spot wrapped up with two rounds of the regular season remaining while Macquarie currently sits second, one point ahead of Forbes.

The Parkes Spacemen, who travel to play Forbes next weekend, are a further three points back in fourth.

Young back-rower Lennon's performance was more of the same after returning home midway through the season.

Having been playing in Sydney, Lennon returned to finish 2022 at home and has made a real impact in the forward pack in recent weeks, with Sunday's double following recent try-scoring efforts against Cowra and Dubbo CYMS.

"Charlie Lennon - he's a big in for us," coach Greenhalgh said.

"He's playing down in Sydney earlier on and he's come home just a little while to get back to his roots.

"He was really good. He's a strong runner, he's got all the skills and you can tell by the way he plays he's got that bit of high-level coaching."

As pleased as he was with his barnstorming second-rower, Greenhalgh was pleased with what he saw across the board at Spooner Oval.

"We said we needed to be good as a 17 - not three or four play good and hope to get away with a win because it won't happen," he said.

As pleasing as the result was the Forbes, it was a real blow for Hawks.

After a patchy and injury-hit start to the season, Hawks had started to find top form in the past month and made the trip to Forbes having won two games in a row to move within touching distance of fourth in the Group 10 pool.

Sunday's loss, combined with a Bathurst St Pat's win on Saturday, means Hawks are now three points off fourth with two rounds remaining.

"They're a quality side, Forbes," Hawks coach former NRL premiership winner Shane Rodney said.

"And we knew if we gave them too many opportunities that they'd take them and they did.

"A bit disappointed but this was a big game for us; it was must-win for us to keep our slim finals hopes alive ... there's still a chance, with a minor miracle, but we really needed this win.

"But they're a good side. We had a couple of good wins coming in but they were better on the day.

"They got the jump on us 20 minutes into the second half and unfortunately we couldn't reel them in."

The first half on Sunday was a high-quality one, with few errors being made.

Tries for Ben Blimka and Marika Turagaiviu gave Hawks the lead, and it could have been more not for some outstanding defence from Forbes while Grace was in the bin.

Forbes didn't hesitate in stating their intentions in the second half, with Lennon the first over the try-line in the opening minutes.

Winger Martin seized the ball from a kick to dive over in the corner for the first of his two tries soon after and helped make the score 18-10.

Hawks gave the Magpies plenty of work to do in defence, but it was the hosts adding points with Lennon and Martin each taking a second try, Mitch Andrews crossing in the corner and Nick Greenhalgh was on point with his kicking to add the extras every time.

That took the game right away from Hawks, who managed to score a consolation try in the final minutes.

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