ALBURY Thunder unleashed a withering final burst to defeat Temora 26-12 in their Group 9 tussle at Greenfield Park on Sunday.
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Trailing 12-8 with 18 minutes remaining, the home team burst into action with 18 unanswered points to run-out comfortable winners.
The side should be bolstered by the return of key playmakers Adrian Purtell and Curtly Jenkinson for next weekend's tussle against Junee at Junee.
Purtell was pleased with the way his side finished the match.
"We did it the hard way, but we got there," Purtell said.
"I thought we built pressure towards the end of the match and blokes started to run with intent around the ruck.
"It was important to get back on the horse and win.
"Temora is one of those teams who never go away so it was pleasing to get the points."
Young forward Liam Wiscombe did a power of work for Thunder while youngster Jaidyn Hampton played well on his wing.
After a dour opening 20 minutes, Thunder broke the deadlock through Damian Scott and looked set to build on the lead by creating several chances.
But Temora dug in for the fight with fullback Hamish Starr scoring just before half-time to give the Dragons a 6-4 advantage at the break.
Zach Starr pushed Temora's lead out to 12-8 with 18 minutes remaining and Purtell's worst nightmare looked firmly on the cards.
But Thunder regrouped and, in a remarkable form reversal, went on a pointscoring rampage.
Keanu Wighton bounced back from a horrendous mistake earlier in the half to score before Brad Hill and Robbie Byatt followed up.
"All the things we spoke about we did in the final 15 minutes," Purtell said.
"It was a step back in the right direction."
Temora has inflicted more than its share of pain on Albury Thunder at Greenfield Park in recent years with the Dragons winning by one point in their previous two meetings.
There was no fairytale win for coach Sam Elwin on this occasion though.