Gisborne found a way late to come away with the points against Sunbury United in the Gisborne and District Cricket Association McIntyre Cup on Saturday.
The Dragons had to fight hard for the points as both sides had some standout performers with the bat.
Dragons captain-coach Jarryd Vernon said it was a good game of cricket.
“It got a little bit close in the end,” he said. “We were able to take a couple of quick wickets to stop them at the end.”
The Dragons batted first and put on 6-273 from their 45 overs. Vernon said they would have taken anything above 240 to 250 at the start of the day.
“That gets you into the game,” he said. “We were able to kick on and get 270 which was always a strong position.”
It was Vernon who was the star of the show, making 136 off 125 balls. He said it was nice to get a big score after being thereabouts all season.
Jarrod Catania made a quick fire 37 off 12 balls at the end of the innings which Vernon said was the difference in the game at the end.
James Hughes took three wickets for the Bees.
The Bees top order made sure that the game was going to go deep, with the side 2-222 after Fabian Fernando made 146.
The Bees lost 5-26 at the end of the innings to finish 7-248 and fall short.
“Fabian had a fantastic knock,” Vernon said. “We were able to stick at it.
“We knew it would turn our away at some stage. We dropped a couple of catches which did hurt us.
“We stuck with what we know works and it paid off.”
Josh Wills, Leigh Brennan and Vernon took two wickets each for the Dragons.
The win keeps the Dragons at the top of the ladder.
They sit 2.7 points ahead of Woodend and 8.3 points clear of Romsey in third spot.
The Dragons this week face Romsey in another one-dayer.
Vernon said they cost themselves in their round one loss to Romsey, which they lost on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern.
“It’s always a tough challenge against Romsey,” he said. “It should be a good game against them.
“We feel like we’re in good form as a team and hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”
In other matches, Woodend beat Romsey, Macedon made it three in a row with victory against Rupertswood and Broadford beat the Sunbury Kangaroos.
