Albury Thunder plays out a 26-all draw with Gundagai in Group Nine

With 82 seconds left, the Thunder had the chance to post a field goal near the posts, but pushed the ball wide and was forced into touch.

The Thunder's effort was even more notable given powerhouse centre Jackins Olam was sent to the sin bin for an infringement in the second minute of the second half.

The home side had led 16-10 at half-time but. within a three-minute burst, the Tigers scored two tries to take the lead.

"To have only 12 blokes at one stage was a big effort from us (to keep in the game), there were times where we could have scored, but we were impatient, just a little bit of inexperience," coach Robbie Byatt explained.

That was also shown when the Thunder trailed by two points with 11 minutes left and was awarded a penalty near the posts, but elected to run the ball.

"I wanted to take the two, but we'd already tapped it and went, it was pretty upsetting that," he added.

Still, if somebody had offered the Thunder, certainly the fans at least, the option of taking away a point from the competition favourites before the match, they would have happily taken that.

"That's right, we came away with a point," Byatt offered.

And that point could prove crucial as Albury looks likely to battle Wagga outfits - Brothers and Kangaroos - for a spot in the top five.

Gundagai opened the scoring after nine minutes when the classy Latrell Siegwalt waltzed through a poor attempt to tackle out wide.

English recruit Jack Mallinson replied for the Thunder when he threw a superb NRL-type cut-out ball for Lachie Curtain-Marlowe to stroll over untouched, but the Tigers replied after Mallinson dropped the ball from the kick off.

The Thunder levelled when clever five-eighth Paul Karaitiana floated across field and threw a short ball to fullback Ty Fletcher.

And the underdogs carried the lead to the break when Sabastian Nelson burst through a gap.

After the Tigers' mini blitz in the second stanza, Karaitiana produced a lovely long kick for the unmarked Curtain-Marlowe to score his second.

Tiger prop Luke Berkrey strolled through for a six-point break, but Jon Huggett then crashed over.

After neglecting the first shot, the Thunder received another penalty and converted.

IN OTHER SPORT:

Fletcher was gutsy, staying on with injury, Nelson was damaging, Mallinson's a natural playmaker, while Huggett was inspirational.

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