Scrappy win for Ghosts

BY GARY NICHOLS

It was an ugly win, but the Grafton Ghosts were happy to walk off Frank McGuren Field on Sunday with two competition points against a previously undefeated Coffs Harbour Comets side.

In a game riddled with errors from both sides, the Ghosts held on for a dramatic 20-16 victory to retain the Clem made no mistake with the conversion for the visitors to race to a 6-0 lead.

Both sides continued to cough up the ball and give away silly penalties much to the frustration of the crowd. However, when the Ghosts fnally found themselves in good feld position, go-toman Dylan Collett brushed aside fve Comets’ defenders to to give his side a 10-6 lead.

Another infringement at the ruck by Grafton saw the visitors lock the scores at 10-all after Ronan Singleton burrowed his way over the try line right on the stoke of half-time.

After the break, Grafton stretched the lead to 14-10 when, from out of nowhere, Ghosts’ half-back Thomas Bowles split had some much-needed breathing space. lot of injuries the last few weeks and now we are getting a few more troops back which helps.”

The clutch moment in the game came when Comets’ fullback Ronan Singleton spilt a towering bomb, and from the ensuing scrum, a rampaging Justin King found the chalk to increase the lead to 20-10 with ffteen left on the clock.

Another unforced error by the home side saw Coffs reawaken the contest when Paul Pen Simona crossed for the visitors third try. Curry’s conversion set up a thrilling last fve-minutes.

The Ghosts’ dug deep and refused to buckle in the dying stages to record an all-important 20-16 victory.

Collett is arguably the best centre in the competition with his powerhouse running and ability to shrug off defenders close to the line. When asked about his try-scoring talent, the

Rankin Shield.

Coffs drew frst blood when hooker Joey Cudmore caught the Ghosts’ defence napping. Nathan Curry score out wide.

And not long after, Collett was at it again, terrorising the Comets right edge to pick up his second four-pointer the defence from 40-out to score next to the uprights.

Cooper Woods missed the conversion, but all of a sudden Grafton

Two-try Ghosts’ hero Dylan Collett admitted it was a scrappy game, but added his side are slowly building each week.

“We defnitely made it hard on ourselves with all the errors,” he said.

“But we’ve had a

Ghosts centre was full of praise for his middle forwards.

“It all comes down to the middle players setting the platform, making the meters and getting a quick play the ball so I can do my thing on the edge,” he said.

Ghosts’ cult hero Justin King was tireless in both attack and defence and was rewarded with the match-winning try late in the second half.

Collett admitted his teammate was a bit unique on the playing feld.

“I’m not sure what’s going on in his head sometimes during the game,” Collett said.

“But he is fantastic to have on the feld and around the club.”

In other news, the South Grafton Rebels cruised to a comfortable 30-6 win over Macksville.

GRAFTON GHOSTS 20 (Tries: Dylan Collett 2, Thomas Bowles 1, Justin King 1. Cooper Woods 2 conversions.) COFFS HARBOUR COMETS

16 (Tries: Joey Cudmore 1, Ronan Singleton 1, Paul Pen Simona 1, Nathan Curry 2 conversions)