The Lower Macleay Magpies put up a fight but were ultimately outclassed in a 64-4 defeat to the Kendall Blues in Saturday’s minor semi-final.
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The loss eliminates the Magpies from the Hastings League’s finals series but coach Bo Wilson remained positive about his side’s season.
“In our 10th year as a club, I was hoping we could go further but I don’t want to take anything away from the other sides in the competition, there is plenty of quality in this competition,” Wilson said.
“It was still a great year and we put ourselves in a position to make a run for the premiership but we weren’t able to do it.”
The Magpies pushed the Blues in the opening exchanges of the match but the Blues were able to build momentum leading into the break to hold a 22-4 advantage.
Lower Macleay lifted after the break and applied pressure to the Blues but a try against the run of play dampened their spirits and the Blues were able to go on with the job.
Wilson credited his players who showed up and trained hard for each other each week throughout the season.
“The side put in every round and we were building nicely at the end of the season but it wasn’t to be,” Wilson said.
“Shawn Skinner celebrated his 100th game for the club recently and Zac McKiernan deserves a lot of credit too for the way he played each week this year.”
The win advances the Blues to have a rematch with the Laurieton Stingrays in the preliminary final this Saturday.
The winner of that match will advance to face the Long Flat Dragons in the grand final the following week.
Wilson hasn’t reached a decision on whether he will return to coach the Magpies in 2019.
“I will wait until after the presentation, speak to a few people and decide what is best for myself and the club moving forward,” Wilson said.
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