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Mittagong reserve grade Lions are now eyeing off back to back premierships.
With their season on the line, it was the boot of Geoff McKeown that proved to be the difference in Mittagong’s win on Sunday.
The reserve grade Lions faced Picton in the preliminary final and booked their spot in the decider with a 12-10 victory.
It was a very tight match and despite having plenty of ball early on, Mittagong was unable to capitalise on its opportunities.
Lions coach Billy Hayward said they had “three cracks at them on their line” but had two tries disallowed- one off a forward pass and the other because of obstruction.
A knock on then denied the Lions for a third time and it wasn't until 10 minutes before the break that Mittagong got on the scoreboard through Jordan Powell.
“He was damaging around the ruck,” Hayward said.
Coming off the bench, Alex Stone had another strong performance and crossed for the Lions second try, with McKeown kicking both conversions.
And Picton didn’t give in, fighting just as hard for a spot in the grand final.
In the final few minutes of the match, the Magpies put the Lions under pressure on their own line but couldn’t find their way across the line.
Hayward said his side’s defence was the best it had been all season and a repeat of that in this weekend’s match would go a long way to winning a second consecutive title.
“There were good numbers in tackles. Defence wins big games and the scoreline reflected that,” he said.
“The jubilation showed at full time.”
They will now face Oran Park/Gregory Hills in the grand final this Sunday afternoon at Campbelltown Stadium.
The last time these two met was in round one of the finals and it was the Chargers that got up 26-4.
And in the regular season, the two sides met in round 17 when Oran Park came away with a 44-8 win.
After two losses in their last two encounters, Hayward said the team was more than ready to reverse those results.
A big, physical side, he said the Lions would need to go into the game with the right attitude and physicality in order to match them.
Since their loss in week one of the finals, Mittagong has gone on to beat Appin and now Picton.
With plenty of confidence from those two wins, they will be hoping to keep the momentum going and lift the reserve grade trophy once again.
“Confidence is everything at this time of the year. We’re coming off a high. It'll be one hell of a game.”
Kick off for the reserve grade final will be at 1.10pm.