WESTERN NSW was the distinct underdog, but the fighting qualities of the young side came to the fore on Saturday at Proctor Park when forcing a 3-all with Camden.
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The Tigers arrived in Bathurst on a four-game winning streak, which included a 4-1 win over Western 10 days prior, and occupying third on the National Premier Leagues 4 ladder.
They sat 22 competition points ahead of the winless Western outfit.
But Mark Rooke's men went to half-time on level terms with Camden at 2-all and while the Tigers hit the lead after the break, Western continued to pressure and forced an own goal to split the points.
"Certainly to have come back twice in the game, we were 1-0 down, we led 2-1 then we were down 3-2 and got back to 3-all - the guys are learning and getting better and it is a good result," Rooke said.
"They are not throwing in the towel at all, they are good young kids and with that experience they'll be a lot better. Like typical country kids, they've got a lot of fight in them, they are in there until the end and trying to get that win we are craving at the moment."
Both Luke Mutton and Brayden Quigg scored in the opening half for the hosts as Western demonstrated what they had learned from their earlier meeting with the Tigers.
"Because of their high back line, we identified how we could get in behind them more often in our game talk, before the match we spoke about that a lot," Rooke said.
"We certainly exploited that in the first half, we didn't do it so much in the second half, but when we did that's how we ended up getting our equaliser."
As well as picking up a draw thanks to the own goal 15 minutes from time, Western managed to impress what Rooke rates as a "quality side".
"They [Camden] were certainly aggrieved about not coming here and getting a walk over, but a couple of comments made during the game from their players to our players, was them saying 'How are you guys not further up the table? It's not a true reflection of where you are with your football'," the coach revealed.
"Comments from the opposition like that, it shows you're not that far away."
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