Lumby merely twisted it when quick hands sent him crashing over in the corner to win it for Gunnedah 32-30.

With Narrabri leading 14-6 after an uninspiring first half in which mistakes dominated both teams, Lake, a sinewy slip of a man who enlists pace and instinct to terrorise, scored three tries in five minutes – each one better than the next, perhaps – to hand the Bulldogs a 28-14 lead.

In all, Lake, who likes to think of himself as “untouchable” on a football field, bagged four tries. He was simply unstoppable in scoring his third and fourth tries, dissecting the Blues up the centre from inside his own half on both occasions.

Narrabri responded with three unanswered tries to lead 30-28, before Lumby crossed.

The Blues’ touchdowns included gems by second-rower Brendan Davey – who showed good pace after accepting a dream pass from prop Brodie Rumsby from just inside his own half – and mercurial replacement Brenton Cochrane.

Cochrane raced 90 metres to score after receiving the ball following a Blues scrum feed inside their own 10m zone.

Bulldogs coach Sean Hayne agreed that it was a match of contrasting halves. “It was good the boys dug deep and fought back at the end there to get the win ... they believed in themselves and finally got there in the end,” he said.

The Bulldogs play North Tamworth at Jack Woolaston Oval next Sunday for the right to progress to the grand final. Norths dominated the Bulldogs when they met recently.

“We’ve got a long way to go to match them and be competitive with them,” Hayne said.