RUGBY LEAGUE
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The Illawarra Cutters exacted some revenge on Wyong on Saturday with a 79th-minute try to young-gun Shannon Crook sealing a gritty 22-14 victory over the Roos at Morrie Breen Oval.
The tight away victory came just two weeks after Wyong handed the Cutters a heart-breaking 24-20 defeat at WIN Stadium and sees them take a two-game winning streak into a week off due to the NRL representative round.
Winger Kiti Glymin confirmed his spot at the top of the NSW Cup try-scorers list with a double either side of half-time while Sitiveni Moicidreke validated his call up to the Cutters with a try before Crook's late heroics sealed the win.
The Cutters also had to play 20 minutes of the match without key back-rower Nathan Green who was sin-binned twice, the first time for tangling with former Bulldogs front-rower Yileen Gordon.
The Roos mounted a late charge at victory on the back of tries to Brock Molan and Abraham Papali and a penalty goal to Nathan Stapleton to trail by two at 16-14 in the dying minutes before Crook's converted try sealed the result.
Cutters assistant Adam Sargent-Wilson admitted to feeling some deja vu as the Roos mounted their surge.
"You could just sense them coming home," he said.
"After the loss [to Wyong] the week before where we got it snatched away in the last minute it was really pleasing to come out the other side with the win. It was one of those games where we had to get into the grind and it was a real arm wrestle. There was only 4-6 points separating us at any one stage and then in the back-end of the game Wyong were pressing on our line only two points down. But to the boys credit they stuck at it and their defence was really tight and we actually scored the try at the death which was good."
After going 1-5 to start the season Sargent-Wilson said two straight wins heading into a spell were vitally important.
"It was good to get two on the trot," he said.
"We've been in every game and probably let ourselves down to lose them. This week to be able to get a good grinding win was really positive."