The Bears, who last claimed the Northern NSW first grade grand final in 1995, conceded twice in the opening half hour and were unable to claw their way back into the decider.

Weston have now lost their past four grand final appearances (1996, 2004, 2010, 2014) and fell fractionally short of capping off their 50th consecutive year in the top flight competition with a minor-major premiership.

The Bears finished second at the end of the regular season after the Newcastle Jets Youth nabbed a late draw in the last round and on the final day of the season the Bears couldn’t ­produce the winning form which had got them to the main event.

This was just the second match Weston have lost in the second half of the year but Bears coach Steve Piggott said they didn’t deserve to win the Northern NSW National Premier League title based on their performance.

“We weren’t good enough on the day and the better team won,” he said.

“But that’s football.”

Piggott said failing to score goals proved costly, including a chance that went begging inside the box in the opening minutes.

“If we score that it could have been a ­different story,” Piggott said.

“But in the last 10 weeks we have scored something like 30 goals and we never tested their goalkeeper today, not once.

“You have got to score goals to win and we weren’t able to do that.”

Player of the final and former Newcastle Jets captain Jobe Wheelhouse opened the Jaffas account with a header on the quarter-hour mark, while Riley McNaughton doubled the lead from a scrappy exchange inside the box 12 minutes later.

That was how the score stayed at the main break.

In the second half the Bears attempted to move the ball forward by spreading it wide and introducing retiring semi-final hero Michael Ryan, playing his 150th and final game for the club, from the bench.

They made some in-roads but were unable to breakthrough and in the dying stages frustrations boiled over when Bears frontman Connor Evans was sent off for elbowing an opponent in a challenge.

The full-time whistle was blown and while Lambton celebrated their maiden grand final victory Weston were left wondering what might have been.

At the official post-match presentation Bears captain Carl Thornton remained philosophical about the season.

“Unfortunately, the result didn’t go our way but we can hold our heads up high,” he said.

“Not a lot of people expected us to do this well but week in, week out we kept proving the critics wrong.”

The season continues for the Bears despite the loss with a game this weekend.

Weston host Queensland-based Palm Beach on Saturday (7pm) in the opening round of the inaugural National Premier League, which involves the top teams from each of the best senior football competitions around the country.

“The boys are disappointed and I’m sure we will have a couple of beers tonight but we need to move on pretty quickly,” Piggott said.

“The National Premier League is an even bigger competition.”

In the lower grade grand finals yesterday Hamilton beat the Jets 2-0 in under 22s while the Jets got one back on Olympic in under 19s with a 5-4 penalty shootout win after the scores were locked at 1-all at full-time.