With injuries mounting and a player shortage having an impact the Tigers welcomed the Gremlins to Rugby League Park with only 15 available players.

“We copped a couple of injuries and only had 14 guys for most of the game,” Tigers captain/coach Brendan Minns said.

Reserve grade was cancelled with Stanthorpe citing a player shortage.

But with roughly 30 players on the field or pitch side on Saturday - Minns said he was left bemused by the Gremlins willingness to play the fixture.

Stanthorpe were relentless in the first-half and took a comfortable lead into the break.

“Defensively our structure wasn’t working very well,” Minns said.

“We had a few guys out of their normal positions and there was added hurt with us having a fair few key players out,” he said.

Former Tenterfield players Geoff Swan and Jarrod McIntosh stared for the Gremlins with a double from Swan adding insult to injury.

Despite the unflattering 54-20 final score line, Minns said his side were better than the end result.

“I don’t think the score line clearly reflected the game – though they’d probably think they should have put 80 (points) on us,” he said.

“Things broke down in our defence – we weren’t getting off our line.

“We let them dictate the game and were letting them play footy to which they would have been saying thank you very much,” Minns said.

Simple lapses led to tries and the Tigers weren’t able to pull their way back into the tie.

The Gremlins win also meant they claimed the Border Rugby League’s President’s Cup which is played between the two top sides.

However, the Tigers grasp of second spot deteriorated with the loss.

Wallangarra now sit on even points after beating Killarney on Saturday.

In the ladies league tag the Tigers side were kept to their lowest score line all season.

The eventually walked away with a 10-4 win maintaining their unbeaten run.

The Tigers will now travel 20 kilometres north this Saturday to face up to the Rams in A-grade and ladies league tag.