By MARK CASHMAN

They call them the championship minutes, the final quarter of games, and Gordon showed that they have the will and the skills to make the most of them following their 28-10 win over Eastern Suburbs in the Shute Shield semi final on Saturday.

The Highlanders scored three critical tries in that time when their season looked on the skids and the Beasties had taken the initiative just after the halftime break and had edged out to a handy 10-3 lead.

That lead came through some nice work by Easts late inclusion, the Wallaby and Waratah Jack Maddocks when he snaked and bumped his way through the Gordon defence and managed to give space to Richie Woolf on the right edge.

Easts then had the chance to get even further out when Sam Shires found himself in space deep in the Gordon half but he was unable to get a pass away to his skipper and scrum half Jack Grant who was looming in support with a clear run to the try line.

But Gordon weren’t to be denied and they worked their way back into the game and started to get some pay from their kick and chase game, so well executed by Rodney Iona, Harrison Goddard, Brandon Quinn and Ahmu Tuimalealiifano.

Jack Dempsey and Tuimalealiifano then were able to add to the scoreline which at the end of the day probably didn’t truely reflect the difference between the two sides.

This will be the first time that Gordon has played in a Shute Shield grand final in 22 years and you’ve got to tip your hat to how far the club has come since they employed Darren Coleman as their head coach.

He has pushed and prodded the club to great heights and their club championship win was vindication of a great season in what has been a tough season all things considered.

“Yeah it was a lot tighter than the score indicated and I’ve got nothing but respect for what Easts have been able to achieve under the guidance of Pauli Taumoepeau,” Coleman said.

“Easts have been dealt with a lot of adversity in this last few weeks and had a lot of wounded soldiers but they put up one hell of a fight on Saturday.

“I thought our kick and chase game was exceptional thanks to our nine and ten.

“Easts defended a few of our key launch plays very smartly so we had to find other ways.

“We know when we string some fast footy together we are hard to handle. We got that fluency mid way through the second half and put on three tries in succession.

“It’s been like that all year when we click for periods it’s great to watch  and the scoreboard ticks.

As always we defended with heart and passion to keep a good team to the single try.”

Easts coach Taumoepeau said errors and opportunities lost were the story of the match.

“We had an opportunity after going up 10-3 to extend the lead but it didn’t work out that way,” Taumoepeau said.

“Gordon then went on a run for the last 25 minutes and we weren’t able to wrestle back momentum.

“Errors and ill-discipline started to creep in and it then became a bit of a stretch.”

GORDON 28 (Ahmu Tuimalealiifano 2, Jack Dempsey, Joey Walton tries; Rodney Iona conversion, pen goal, Harrison Goddard pen goal) d EASTERN SUBURBS 10 (Richie Woolf try; Daniel Donato conversion, pen goal) at Pittwater Rugby Park.

IMAGE: AJF PHOTOGRAPHY