Charles Sturt University hold off a fast-finishing Barellan to win by eight points

The Bushpigs survived a spirited Two Blues fightback to grab an important 8.12 (60) to 7.10 (52) victory at Barellan Sportsground.

It was prized recruit Trent Cohalan that drifted forward to take a strong mark and kicked truly from a tight angle to seal the win for CSU.

It was a timely goal as halted Barellan's momentum just as they looked like pulling off a tremendous last-quarter comeback.

CSU controlled proceedings for most of the day after starting strongly and keeping Barellan goalless until the seventh minute of the second term.

They led by 17 and 19 points at the first two breaks and led by as much as 27 late in the third term before Barellan kicked two quicks goals just before three-quarter-time to draw within 15.

After an arm-wrestle to begin the final term, Will Ellis kicked two goals in the space of three minutes, both from free kicks, to draw the home team within three points.

Both teams had their opportunities to goal before Cohalan landed the knockout blow in the 23^rd minute.

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CSU co-coach Travis Cohalan was rapt to get the all-important victory.

"After the game to the boys the main message was you don't often come over to Barellan and get a win, they're a really hard team to beat anywhere but on their home deck they're probably four or five goals better," Cohalan said.

"It was a big game for them today, it was like a grand final, and they certainly came hard at us all day.

"The boys were saying in the sheds after the game how hard they came, especially after half-time. They're all pretty worn out, battered and bruised, our boys.

"It's a great win for our footy team and the boys to give them more confidence but full credit to Barellan because they cracked in and came really hard late."

The win moves CSU to fourth spot, two games clear of sixth-placed Barellan.

It all but assures CSU of a finals berth but with games against East Wagga-Kooringal and Temora to finish the home and away season, Cohalan was stopping short of conceding his team are there.

"At the moment we're in a really good position and the destiny's in our own hands," he said.

"To be completely honest with you, I know it's an old cliche, Dusty (Rogers) and I have spoken about finals, and some of the senior players within the group, but certainly to the playing group we haven't even discussed finals.

"We know we had the top three teams in a row, Jets, Marrar and The Rock, and then we had three games that we really needed to win to make finals, Barellan, East Wagga and Temora to come home with.

"We pretty much knew we needed to win at least three of our last four, so today is another tick, we've won two now and we still need to win another one or two to make sure of it but it does put us in a solid position where our destiny is in our own hands."

Barellan ruckman Riley Irvin was the dominant player on the ground and he was a clear best-on-ground despite playing in the losing team.

Trent Cohalan won plenty of the footy for CSU and kicked the all-important sealer, while Sam Barrow, Max Findlay and Lachie Moore also had a big influence on the result.

For Barellan, after Irvin, Jack Carroll-Tape, who picked up a minor hamstring injury, Jason Taylor and Emerson Cody enjoyed good games.

Cohalan was happy with how CSU played early but explained that it's hard to get a game on your terms for the full four quarters.

"To be completely honest, I think the competition is relatively even, especially the top six or seven teams and I think all teams are able to play their style at various stages throughout games and I thought we played our style, the way we wanted to play, for the first quarter and a half, two quarters and then Barellan wrested back momentum," he said.

"So yeah sure, we would have liked to have played our way for four quarters but also, we're not arrogant at all, and we understand teams are going to have good patches against us and force us to play the way we don't want to play and they brought the heat after half-time so full credit to them."

Full-time

CSU Bushpigs 3.2 5.5 7.10 8.12 (60)

Barellan Two Blues 0.3 2.4 5.7 7.10 (52)

GOALS: CSU Bushpigs: D.Rogers 2, H.Wooden 1, B.Browning 1, J.Collingridge 1, L.Moore 1, T.Cohalan 1, M.Findlay 1; Barellan Two Blues: W.Ellis 3, J.Hillman 1, H.McKenzie 1, J.Moala 1, R.Best 1

BEST: CSU Bushpigs: T.Cohalan, H.Wakefield, N.Myers, J.Bowditch, H.Wooden, H.Robertson; Barellan Two Blues: Not submitted.

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