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Orange CYMS went into the half time break in Sunday's Peter McDonald Premiership grand final decider with a 22-point lead over their Group 11 hosts.
Forbes had scored first points at Forbes' Spooner Oval, Zeke Hartwig crossing in the corner after nine minutes of an arm wrestle with both sides making a solid start to the game.
But it was mere minutes before Liam Wilson did likewise for the visitors to level the scores at 4-4 and from there CYMS only gained momentum.
Orange had the bulk of the possession - and capitalised with three good tries - as Forbes fullback Mitchell Andrews was sent to the sin bin and the clock counted down to half time.
"We didn't have enough ball, we had to defend a lot," Forbes coach Cameron Greenhalgh said post-match.
"I said to the boys at half time, you need to have the belief.
"If we get our fair share of football and stick to our plan of how we want to play the game, we'll hopefully come out the other end of it."
The second half was to prove a completely different story, with the Magpies' Toby Hurford breaking through the barrier and the Magpies putting down try after try before the jubilant fan group at the southern end of the field. It was 10-26, then 16-26, then 22-26.
It was captain Nick Greenhalgh who had the honour of putting the ball down under the posts to put his team back in the lead.
"There's fellas that have been in games like this before and been - probably not that far behind - but they can turn themselves around," Greenhalgh said.
"You can tell, they get that look in their eye.
"It was an effort ... but once they get on a roll they can be hard to pull back."
They were. CYMS bolted away and put one final ball down over the try-line as the final buzzer rang but the Magpies had it in hand with a final score of 40-30.
Captain Nick said the team motto "success comes to those who never give up" was their half-time talk and it kicked in in that second half.
"Ecstatic. A thousand times over," he said post-match as Forbes fans flocked onto the field to celebrate.
"I'm lost for words right now. It's unbelievable.
"That crowd in that back corner just got us home I think, it was unbelievable."
- FORBES MAGPIES 40 (Zeke Hartwig, Toby Hurford, Jake Grace, Nick Greenhalgh, Alvin Maungaati, Tongia Fox, not available tries; Nick Greenhalgh 5 conversions, one penalty goal) defeated ORANGE CYMS 30 (Nick Murphy, Jordan Clark, Daniel Mortimer 2, Ethan McKellar, Liam Wilson tries; Patrick Williams 3 conversions)
