Southcity still tops in McGhie's eyes despite winning streak coming to an end

Instead the coach was more bullish than ever in his assessment of their prospects this season.

"We're at the top of the table," McGhie said.

"The (other) teams know that.

"Looking at the teams above us other than Young we've beat all of them.

"We come up short (on Sunday) but I still think we were the better side and I think anyone watching the game thinks we were the better side."

The loss sees the Bulls slip to fifth on the Group Nine ladder.

They are behind Kangaroos on points differential with Gundagai, who they got the better of last week, a point ahead of them.

The late sin binning of Joel Tracey proved to be a crucial moment with just under 10 minutes to play.

Young scored twice in that period to take a 30-24 victory.

McGhie thought it changed the outcome of the clash.

"I'm not too fussed about that, it is what it is, and I think everyone watching the game knows if we have our full side on the field we beat them convincingly at the end there," he said.

"They were right on the fence ready to fall off and that got a little bit of energy and without that everyone knows we win the game.

"We still nearly got them with 12 so I'm not too worried about that.

"It was just flashbacks to West Wyalong, starting slow but we got the job done.

"You probably don't find another side that is down by 12 to Young after 20 minutes and crawls back to walk into the sheds at half-time 12-12.

"I still back our team, we know we have the side to contest it and we will see them again later in the season."

McGhie was left to rue a slow start with Young on top early after scoring the opening two tries.

Southcity responded with the next four, and hit the front again later in the clash, before conceding twice with Tracey off the field to fall six points short.

They pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind-win over Temora, after trailing by 14 points midway through the second half, but couldn't reel in another side this time around.

However their effort wasn't lost on the first-year coach.

"I don't think they started well, we started slow and that's what it came down to," McGhie said.

"We were slow to get out of the gates and they scored a lucky try off a kick to start the game off.

"Our boys found that switch and switched it back on after about 20 minutes, brought it back to 12-all at half-time.

"Find another side who does that against Young."

Removing the lapses in their game is something he wants to focus on heading into a clash with Albury at Greenfield Park on Saturday.

Especially after the Thunder took victory at Harris Park earlier this season.

"Our lapses in the game can be one of the things that hurt us," McGhie said.

"You look at the other tries and they usually come off us with a drop ball then compounded that with a penalty or two penalties to put that up into our zone and just giving them easy possession.

"They converted on it."