Bears coach Trevor Morris was disappointed McDermott’s effort up front was not rewarded with victory, casting doubts on a penalty call rewarded to the Jets.

Morris said he found it difficult to understand how the referee made the call, which resulted in a goal, but the team had to live with the decision.

“We were a little bit unlucky really. There was a terribly deflected own goal and one goal was a penalty which in my mind was never a penalty.

“You just have to roll with the dice, you have to accept the referee’s decision.

“The other one, the young bloke just got caught out. He’ll learn from the experience. They’re all fixable.

“Gary McDermott was obviously a stand out up front. Will Wyers was good in his first game and Lachlan Rowan on debut did really well for us, but everyone did their part it was a good team effort.

“At the end we were a little dead on our feet with lack of match fitness.

“We rode our luck a bit near the end when we were holding on but we should have had the game well and truly wrapped up by half-time the chances we created and missed.

“We should have put it to bed but that’s the beauty of the game.”

The Weston Bears have an away match next up against Edgeworth on Friday night.

“Edgeworth next, it doesn’t get any easier,” Morris said. Every game is going to be tough. it’s a pretty good competition this year when you look at the quality of players in each team.”

Across at Cooks Square Park, Maitland Magpies coach Steve Piggott was satisfied with his team’s 0-all draw with Hamilton Olympic.

Piggott said he had taken a deliberately defensive approach into the game, hoping to score against Olympic on the counter-attack.

“We set out with a four-three-two-one which is a little bit negative you could say.  That’s what we trained at all week, getting five or six behind the ball. You have to concede space and it’s up to them to break us down.” he said.

“I’m happy to get a point in the first game of the season against a good opponent who has been in the final series nearly every year I can remember.

“We set up to defend and give them space in front of us and we did that and tried to score on the counter.

“We didn’t want to lose and if we could get three points it would be great but it didn’t happen.

“Both goalkeepers had good games.  Their goalkeeper Danny Ireland was the difference in the end. He made two or three saves, when we had him one-on-one.

“Dean Heffernan worked very hard up front, most times he was isolated. With a little better finishing in the front-third on the counter we could have got the win.”

The Magpies play Valentine at Cahill Oval on Saturday.