HOW sweet revenge feels.

Muck, mud and a dash of rain weren’t enough to keep Roma Cities from snatching an incredible last-minute victory over Chinchilla Bulldogs in an intense A-grade retribution match.

In remarkably similar circumstances to earlier this season, the clash was settled in the final stages of the match, with sharpshooter Shannon Irwin sealing the win with just seconds to go.

It made for a bumper first half, with the sides neck and neck until half-time.

The Bulldogs ran away with some sneaky tries to bring their score up to 26.

But thanks to a last-minute try to Ronnie Willett and successful conversion from Shannon Irwin, Cities managed to scrape to victory 28-26.

Coach Sam Bartley said it was a great day for Cities, having just toppled the reigning premiers.

“It’s a great day for Cities; we’ll get better from this and keep improving,” Bartley said.

“We train for games like this.

“It’s what we play football for.

“The last time we clashed, they beat us by four points, we beat them by two today.

“We’ve had pretty close matches and it’s been an even comp so far.”

Bulldogs coach Mark Lingard said he was “heart-broken” for his players to have victory snatched away, but commended them for a great game.

“It was a tough game. The conditions kept the game confined to the centre, so the guys in the middle had to work harder than the rest,” Lingard said.

“They worked really hard and we were looking good with 10 minutes to go, but that’s football, it’s what happens,” he said.

“Chinchilla-Cities is always a really tough game, and today was definitely one of the harder ones we’ve played in the season.”

Cities’ victory puts breathing space between themselves and the Bulldogs, who have both been touted as potential finalists for this year’s competition.