Late penalties, disallowed field goals and biting allegations.
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It’s fair to say there was plenty of drama at Alfred Oval as Young and Southcity played a 26-all draw on Sunday.
Six points was the biggest margin at any stage of the game as teams one and three on the ladder played out a thriller worthy of a final.
Young hadn’t been behind since the 20th minute as the two teams went try-for-try in an entertaining clash.
Then Southcity halfback Kyle McCarthy kicked a penalty goal to level things up with nine to play, but there was plenty more drama left.
The Cherrypickers thought they’d edged in front once more when Ray Talimalie slotted a field goal with four left on the clock.
However, visiting referee Matt Navin didn’t award the point, instead he gave Southcity a penalty for having their defenders blocked as Talimalie put up the kick.
Two minutes later Talimalie’s second field goal attempt went wide and Young’s desperate pleas for an offside penalty fell on deaf ears.
Young captain-coach James Woolford thought his team has hard done by both decisions.
“They were offside and we should have got a penalty,” Woolford said. “It was clear for everyone to see.
“That was the second one, the first one went over and it was a field goal.
“We didn’t get any 50-50 calls today, nothing went our way but to the boys credit they kept turning up, kept doing the little things right and kept scoring points.
“We a happy with the one point, but it was a game we could have won.”
However, Southcity captain-coach Nick Skinner was confident Navin got to spot on.
“We got taken out so it’s a legit penalty,” Skinner said.
“It was a tough game, and we knew it would be coming over here, so we just have to look at where we went wrong during the week.”
Southcity did plenty of defensive work to start the second half and Skinner thought it paid a toll at the end.
The draw sees the Bulls relinquish top spot on the ladder to Gundagai.
Despite splitting the points, Woolford believes there is plenty to take away from the performance.
“It was disappointing for us with the amount of effort we put in,” he said.
“The boys played off their feet and we were down a couple of troops, and down to none on the bench at the end, so the way we pulled through was really pleasing.”
Southcity hooker Pani Manawatu was also put on report for allegedly biting Woolford late in the first half.