Two months and a world of improvement later and the story was quite different when the teams clashed at Ashford last Saturday.

In fact, Guyra took the crow out of the Roosters early in the contest with an opening 15 minutes that had the home side well and truly on the back foot.

Matt Duthie’s try and Kyle Mongta’s conversion put the Spuds up 6-nil and it could have been more, such was Guyra’s dominance of the early stages.

That’s why it was such a blow when Ashford hit back against the run of play to level at 6-all and then capitalised on some errors to hit the front 12-6.

Another try added insult to injury and, despite such a strong start, the Spuds had to go to the break 18-6 down.

The catch cry was complete sets and turn the heat back on Ashford, but it didn’t go to plan at all.

The mistake rate destroyed any hopes of a repeat performance early in the second half and led to more points for Ashford.

Guyra muscled up in defence but still conceded three second half tries as the Roosters took advantage of the weight of possession.

At 32-6 the Spuds finally started to hang onto the ball and push the Roosters back and were rewarded when Mongta pounced on a kick to add another try to his tally for the year and then landed the goal as well.

The final score of 32-12 highlights how far the Spuds have come since that opening day of the season, but what proves it more is the fact the side was disappointed not to have gone on with the job after a strong start, instead of just being happy to make up the numbers.

Duthie was players’ player and took home three club points, Nesi Puta rattled the Roosters and polled two and Blake Handebo added some attacking plays to his usual defensive effort to win one point.

The leaguetag clash told a similar story.

The Spudettes displayed their own improvement with a more competitive showing against the unbeaten Ashford side.

Not a lot went right for Guyra in the first half and it trailed 8-nil at halftime.

Two more Ashford touch downs after the break extended the lead, but the Spudettes kept working and received some late compensation.

Tahlia Roberts broke the scoring drought with the first try from a good inside ball and Brianna Sutton found space wide on the left to post another.

Momentum was on Guyra’s side at 18-8, but the clock was not and that’s how it finished.

Danielle Sutton (three), Britt Youman (two) and Bea Roberts (one) added to their club points tallies while the players chose to share the players’ player award among the entire squad.

This weekend both teams embark on their last big trip of the season when they head to Moree to tackle the Boomerangs.

Grant Robertson