Southcity came through their biggest test yet to remain unbeaten through the first five rounds of the Group Nine competition.
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The Bulls fired early at Alfred Oval, jumping out to an 18-0 lead after 24 minutes, but only just held on against a resurgent Young.
The Cherrypickers outscored their rivals in the second half but the 28-24 win keeps the Bulls on top of the ladder ahead of a big clash with Tumut on Sunday.
With Luke McBeath sin binned midway through the second half, Young had a good opportunity to continue their strike back, and while they conceded once in the period, Southcity's defence was one of the most pleasing things to take away from a tough road trip for captain-coach Nathan Rose.
"It is always a tough trip to Young but you have to turn up with a good mindset or otherwise they will put you away," Rose said.
"To come away with the two points is awesome.
"We worked hard for each other in that 10-minute period so it was a good effort."
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Southcity got off to a perfect start after a couple of penalties to see Dana Ratu crash over after five minutes.
They extended their lead after capitalising on some Young mistakes as Kyle McCarthy found Trey Charles with a lovely cut-out pass.
Southcity then cut right through Young's middle to extend their lead as McBeath crashed over.
The Bulls didn't make a mistake until late in the first stanza and after missing a couple of early opportunities Young finally made their way over as Nick Cornish stepped through the line with three minutes left in the first half.
Trailing 18-6 after a long break, Young fired early as Jesse Corcoran went over from dummy half three minutes into the second half.
However Southcity responded almost immediately with a Latrell Siegwalt try.
Siegwalt then kicked the first of two penalty goals to hand the Bulls a 26-12 lead with 26 minutes to play.
Four minutes later Young capitalised on McBeath's dismissal as Blake Coombes cut into the margin.
Young had more opportunities but this time the Bulls held strong and instead added to their lead with another Siegwalt penalty.
Young kept fighting and scored with two minutes remaining through Nayah Freeman but couldn't threaten to deliver one last blow.
The amount of chances they gave away is something Rose is looking to improve on ahead of the big clash with Tumut.
"We probably let them off the hook a few times so going forward we need to be better," he said. "Tumut are the benchmark so it will be a good test and hopefully we can build off this win."