Newcastle RL: Young stars for Cessnock but Central 'gutted' after minor SF

Central winger Kain Anderson scores a try in the corner just before half-time. The Butcher Boys lost 22-16 to Cessnock in Sunday's minor semi-final at Townson Oval. Picture by Max Mason-Hubers

CESSNOCK captain-coach Harry Siejka rated highly the impact of Jayden Young off the bench as the Goannas put themselves one win away from a Newcastle Rugby League decider.

The Coalfields club scored 16 unanswered points during the second half of the minor semi, recording a 22-16 victory over Central at Townson Oval on Sunday.

It was an enthralling encounter but the end result left the Butcher Boys eliminated from the 2022 play-offs in straight sets, having also lost to Macquarie at home last weekend.

Cessnock now progress to meet Macquarie in Saturday's preliminary final at Lyall Peacock Field with Young proving quite a "handful" according to Siejka.

"I thought that was Jayden Young's best game for us in a long time," Siejka said.

"The way he came onto the ball when he came on gave us that energy and got us going forward. It really changed the game and, to be honest, we all fed off that at the back end."

Cessnock have now won two elimination matches, beating Souths at home seven days earlier and turning around back-to-back losses in the last rounds of the regular season.

This included a 22-0 defeat three weeks ago by Central, ranked second on the ladder and arriving at the finals series with a 10-game unbeaten streak.

"Everyone is gutted. It's disappointing, especially with the way the season was set up. But that's all for nothing now," Butcher Boys coach Phil Williams said.

In terms of the performance itself, Williams said "we dropped a lot of ball and you need to control the ball to win semi-finals. Cessnock did that".

Central had a try disallowed midway through the first half but cancelled out that decision a few minutes later through a length-of-the-field intercept from Kiah Cooper.

Butcher Boys prop Cameron King crashed over and it was 12-0 on the half-hour mark.

Cessnock winger Josh Charles helped half the margin but Kain Anderson's spectacular finish in the corner on the brink of the break made it 16-6.

The Goannas did the damage between the 49th and 66th minutes with Charles, Reed Hugo and Harvey Neville all scoring tries.

Sam Clune broke a 16-all deadlock with a penalty goal during that period.

"We were really flat the first 40, but the second 40 was really good and we kept them to zero as well which was pleasing," Siejka said.