In a lionhearted performance considering the casualties, Thunder centre Mitch Seaton scored on the final play of the match to give coach Ben Jeffery a chance to level the scores.

But he missed the conversion from 10 to 15 metres in from the sideline to give the sixth-placed Cherrypickers the points.

On top of Andrew Cowhan (thumb) and Andrew Smith (knee) missing, David Cowhan sat out the clash after dislocating his knee cap playing for Riverina at Dubbo on Saturday.

Jon Hugett spent the second half on the bench with a thumb injury and Joe Silafau went down with an ankle injury with 15 minutes remaining.

Jack Watson missed the clash due to work commitments.

“Under the circumstances, the boys did well,” club president Rick O’Connell said.

“I thought we deserved a point.

“In the end we finished with a forward pack of Selwyn Lavakeiaho, Matty Mosbey, Hughie Duncan, Jye Thompson, Rex Sargeant, Josh Malcomson and Dale Smith.

“They were fantastic given the personnel we had missing.”

Mosbey was a workhorse for Thunder with Matt Garness and Huggett also turning in strong performances.

Young and Albury are now level on 10 points each with Thunder facing a danger match against Brothers at Greenfield Park on Sunday.

In the match of the round, Gundagai thumped Kangaroos 58-6.

After bolting to 30-6 by halftime, Gundagai kept up the frenetic scoring tempo as Roos plunged further into the Group Nine mire.

On the back of five successive losses, Kangaroos have lost touch with the top five and face a monumental task to make the finals.

Captain-coach Adam Hall said his team was in a serious predicament.

“You never say never, but we’ll probably need to go through undefeated from here (to make the finals),” Hall said.

“We just need to start winning.”

Tigers coach James Smart has no such worries.

“The last few weeks we’ve been grinding out wins, but we started to create more things today,” Smart said.

“It’s all starting to come together.”

Five-eighth Tyron Gorman, winger Phil Latu, second rower Brett Eccleston and James Luff were outstanding, while Brock Dunn, Dane O’Hehir and Vincent Brown were not far behind.

Southcity stayed undefeated with a 26-18 win over Temora.

Gundagai thumped Kangaroos 58-6, Junee ousted Tumbarumba 32-22 and Cootamundra and Tumut played a 30-all draw.