No. 1 Oval was filled with loyal fans on Sunday that came to support the Leeton team in a bid to boast moral.  

The day was a sad one, with all games opening with teams paying their respects to the late Elwyn Ravu, who passed away during the week. 

The West Wyalong Mallee Men went home the victors, a final score of 44-10 leaving the Greens defeated, but not completely browbeaten. 

Mistakes like missed and sloppy passes let the Mallee Men in to score tries early in the piece and the game continued in this less than ideal fashion.   

Two tries for Leeton were scored, one in each half. 

Billy Gilbert scored the try in the first-half and is one of the young leaders on the field. 

At half-time the score was in favour of West Wyalong, 16-4. Matt Arnold scored the try in the second-half after outrunning his Mallee Men opponents. 

Dave Stevens kicked one successful conversion, but missed the other.

At half-time Halden urged his team to release the opposition after a tackle and to focus on the middle. This was coupled with a pep talk, asking the Greens to keep their heads up.

He said despite the scoreline, his side was putting in a gallant effort.   

Halden said West Wyalong were a good team.  

“We have got to play the full 80 minutes (of football), we can’t lapse,” he said. “With 20 minutes to go, the score was 22-10, we only had two converted tries within 60 minutes.”

Still, he gave his team credit. 

“They (the Greens) dug deep, they tried really hard,” Halden said. 

“We tried to come away with a good result. West Wyalong were just too good in the end.” 

Mallee Men have now cemented their place in the top five of the Group 20 ladder, leaving Leeton on the bottom, but the Greens will have another chance for a win in front of a home crowd this weekend. 

Leeton take on the Hay Magpies in their final match before a bye. The home-side will be aiming for victory to help get them off the bottom of the ladder. 

Leeton have only won once this season, a 34-26 victory over Tullibigeal-Lakes United in round six.

They will need a major form reversal in the second-half of the season to threaten the finals.

“From the first round, the boys are looking for a bit of redemption,” Halden said. 

“We won’t go down without a fight.” 

Results

Reserves: West Wyalong 26 d Leeton 0

Under 18s: Leeton 66 d West Wyalong 4

Under 16s: Leeton 40 d Weat Wyalong 6