At the final whistle the scoreboard read South City 44 over Coota 26, however president of the club Wayne Berkrey said emphatically after the game it was one of the best performances he has seen the first grade squad put in all season. 

There is no doubting the quality of the opposition the Bulldogs were facing with South City winning their previous two encounters prior to Sunday by upwards of 30 and 40 points.

Coota were also facing an issue in terms of unavailable players due to work commitments and injury concerns. No excuses though and none are needed with those players who took to the field doing themselves proud. 

Co-coach Mark Elia said the boys gave a good account of what they’re made of. 

“We were down 26-10 at halftime and the boys could have let it go but they held on and it was fairly even in the second half,” Elia said. 

South City scored 18 points in the second half to Coota’s 16, however the first half deficit was too great to make up. 

Elia paid tribute to his co-coach Grant Boyd, who put in a big effort on Sunday. 

“He had his best game of the year running hard and direct,” Elia said. 

Another consistent performer for the Bulldogs is Mick Glanville, who stepped up once again on Sunday defending well against the strong, sharp South City pack. 

A number of players have been asked to step up from reserve grade over recent weeks and are doing themselves and their club proud including Andre Iro, Luke Levett and Josh Davies.

“We want to get some quality minutes into these players and make a late run to sneak into the finals,” Elia said. 

With Albury at home on Les Boyd Oval this weekend, the job of the Bulldogs does not get any easier, however this does mean they are gaining some quality experience on the paddock. 

Try scoring honours were shared on Sunday with Chris Maher, Andrew Holani, Joe Cooper, Anthony Ngapoko and Josh Davies all scoring one each. 

Matt Forsyth was successful with three of the five conversion attempts.