The game nor the scoreline were pretty but securing the two points was enough to satisfy Junee captain-coach Matt Hands.
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The Diesels were never comfortable in the clash at Les Boyd Oval but just managed to hold off a resolute Bulldogs outfit.
Coming away with a 20-14 win, Hands said it was just what the club needed coming off a heavy defeat to Gundagai and heading into a bye.
“It was a bit of a scrap over there,” Hands said.
“We had a few chances, especially in the first half, to score a few points and just weren’t as sharp as we normally are.
“To Coota’s credit they hung in there, made a real game of it and in the end we just hung in there by the six points.”
Playing in wet conditions, that the Diesels have struggled to adapt to this season, the two teams finished locked on three tries each.
Sharp-shooter Cameron Hands proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Despite the narrow victory margin, his older brother believes the win was an important as the Diesels look to maintain its position inside the top three.
He wasn’t too disappointed by the effort.
“We didn’t build any pressure, had a few chances late in the first half to score a few points but didn’t,” Hands said.
“Our defence wasn’t too bad at times, we lapsed in the first half for a little bit but I am just happy to get the two points.
“Especially going into another bye.
“It is a pretty stop start period with our two byes and the June long weekend bye.
“We have come out of it alright so hopefully once we come out of the bye we will be freshened up and onto the finals from there.”
The Diesels were also without barnstorming front rower Patrick Sagigi.
Sagigi is set to miss at least the next five weeks after breaking his jaw in the loss to the Tigers last week.
He will be a big loss for last year’s grand finalist, who have one of the smallest forward pack in the competition.
“It is pretty disappointing for us but he had it looked at and set himself a goal of six weeks, which will hopefully get him back around finals time,” Hands said.
“He was playing some good footy against Gundagai before he went off.”
In Sagigi’s absence Pat Guthrie stood tall in the forwards.
Daniel Foley was also dangerous at the back while Connor McCauley got through plenty of work playing at centre.
For Cootamundra Matt Forysth offered plenty of attacking spark in the halves while Simon Lienesch was hard to handle.
