Sloppy discipline and attacking play saw Narwan Eels barely escape Inverell with a win on Saturday.
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The Eels travelled to the reigning premiers’ territory after a two-week break and the lack of recent match time was evident.
Coach Peter Moran said it was the same old story of his side giving away penalties and carting their opponents up the field.
“I thought it was the worst game we played all year,” he said.
“Full credit to Inverell too, they were playing really good in the first half.
“We dropped a lot of ball and were giving a lot of penalties away, late in the tackle count.
“Those two weeks we had off, we lost a bit of momentum.
“We gave our players a week off, because of injuries, and the week after that we had terrible weather and we couldn't get to training because it was too wet.”
We dropped a lot of ball and were giving a lot of penalties away, late in the tackle count.
- Peter Moran
Inverell led 18-12 at half-time.
The visitors switched on in the second half to level the scores to 18-all at the 60 minute mark.
They edged in front of the Hawks two minutes later but Inverell hit back to draw level again.
Seven minutes from the siren, Gary Quinlan crossed to put the Eels in front before John Roberts sealed the win one minute from full-time with his own four-pointer.
“They [Inverell] lost their way a little bit late in the second half. We started completing more sets,” Moran said.
“John Roberts played exceptional.
“Our back three were really good again.”
The side will have to play better this Sunday against Moree Boars.
While they were lucky to come away with the win in Inverell, Narwan will face a Boars side full of confidence and momentum from coming off a 56-16 win against Glen Innes.
“We have few players missing this week but we had a good training run [on Wednesday] night,” Moran said.
“We brought a couple of reserve graders up to fill those spots.
“I think we can go to Moree and come away with the two points if we stop giving penalties away.
“They are going to be tough over there and if we are not on song, the score will show.”
Narwan played their third game back in Group 19 against the Boars in a re-scheduled round one home fixture.
They only got away with the win by 12 points on that occasion.
“They always seem to come out and play good football against us,” Moran said.