The Maitland Magpies have a mountain to climb after losing 2-0 to Adamstown Rosebud in their first division semi-final first leg on their home turf on Sunday.

Maitland were undone by two wonder strikes either side of half-time, the first a dipping, swerving volley from the top of the penalty area followed by a powerful, arrowed strike into the top left corner.

The Magpies face a difficult task of qualifying for the grand final as they now travel to Adamstown Oval on Saturday chasing the tie and needing to recover a two-goal deficit.

And it could have been worse for Maitland, with captain and goalkeeper Matt Stonham saving a second half penalty that would have seen the tie almost dead and buried.

Despite the 2-0 score line and 3-0 defeat to the same opposition in the final round of the regular season, Stonham believes Adamstown are there for the taking in the second leg.

“To be honest they’re not as good as what people think they are or as the table says,” Stonham said.

“They finished second but I think we’ve got better quality players.

“They had more enthusiasm than us and we need to match them next week and if we do that we’ll beat them and get the goals we need.”

Stonham had kept his team in the game in the first half with several quality saves, with Adamstown keeper Scott Carter doing likewise to deny Magpies striker Luke Lawless after the break.

The Magpies number one was disappointed with the result but praised the contribution of the players who came off the bench.

“We just didn’t win our one-on-one battles,” Stonham said.

“Matt Morris came on and made a difference and James Boyle became our target man up front and we were able to create some chances off him.

“The warm up was good and we were buzzing in the sheds before kick off but when we got out there we were just out enthused on everything.”

Maitland face a shorter turn around with their semi-final second leg on Saturday, leaving the Magpies less than a week to turn it around.