The Lightning confirmed their safety for another season while cruelling any remaining hopes that St George may have had of catching Parramatta Eagles with a come from behind 3-2 victory. The Saints started brilliantly, with last season’s Golden Boot winner Juan Chavez getting on the scoresheet after just four minutes. Brad Gibson put the Saints two up after twenty five, the visitors seemingly cruising to the three points. But Central Coast fought back, Keenan Crum reducing the arrears before half time after receiving a nice ball from Nathan Byrn. Byrn then drew Central Coast level ten minutes into the second half when he scored with a 25 yard drive and then Neil Woodcock put the Coast in front with a smash and volley with twenty minutes to go. Peter Preston, as one would expect, was very satisfied with his team’s performance despite the slow start. “To be fair, we were outplayed for the first twenty minutes and we took a while to settle down. We were a bit nervous but the boys dug in and recovered”. “We were probably a bit unlucky not to be level at half time though, Graham Toope had a good chance but in the second half, we were just too good. I might be a little bit biased but I thought we played them off the park in the second half.” “We could’ve chucked it in at 0-2 and waited for next week but ,again, we dug in and got the job done”. Preston has been happy with the team’s second round performance. “We have had some good results in the second round. We have now beaten St George, who were coming second, Spirit, Bossy, Macarthur, and drawn with Dulwich Hill. We have probably got a little bit of luck that we didn’t get in the first round, but we have done really well”. Central Coast 3 (Keenan Crum 33’, Nathan Byrn 54’, Neil Woodcock 69’) v St George 2 (Juan Chavez 4’, Brad Gibson 25’) Source FNSW