Goulburn Dirty Reds coach Ben Pearson was left "gutted" by Saturday's ACT First Division First Grade grand final, which saw Goulburn go down by seven points against the Gungahlin Eagles.
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Having come through a tough finals series and left no stone unturned in their preparation, Pearson said that the Dirty Reds went into the final "very confident".
"We were very confident in the way that they would play and the way we would need to play to beat them," he said.
But a phenomenal defensive effort from Gungahlin, combined with a stronger ruck and excellent tactical decision-making, saw the Eagles run out 28-21 winners.
"They played exactly the way that we thought they would, but the areas that we thought we would be able to attack them in, they did better," Pearson said.
"It's no surprise that a team turning up to a grand final has pinpointed their own weaknesses and filled those holes."
The Eagles took a 14-0 lead early in the match at Viking Park in Canberra, having resisted a strong Goulburn assault on their tryline.
But the Dirty Reds were not to be deterred, and Goulburn fought its way back into contention before long with a try of its own.
Both teams proceeded to trade scores throughout the game, but Gungahlin managed to maintain a one-try buffer which proved too much for the Dirty Reds in the end.
Despite the result, Pearson expressed his immense pride in the effort put forward by the Goulburn players, and Dirty Reds stalwart Mik Webber was confident that they would rebound.
"We always seem to bounce back pretty well, we're always thereabouts come finals," Webber said.
"The encouraging thing is we have a young squad, a very young team. I've got no doubt we can do it again next year."
Prior to the men's match, the Goulburn Dirty Reds women's team managed a remarkable comeback from 17-0 down at half time, to win 19-17 over Gungahlin.
This sets up an exciting grand final clash next weekend in Crookwell between the Goulburn women and Gungahlin. Details to be confirmed later in the week.
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