The Maitland Pickers squandered a four-try comeback to slump to a 24-point loss to Macquarie Scorpions at Peacock Field on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Trailing 20-0 midway through the first half, the Pickers had closed the gap to two points by half-time and led 24-20 when Steve Waetford crossed five minutes after the break.
But Macquaire took full advantage when Maitland prop Rob Mason was sin-binned to wrestle control of momentum back and proceed to score 28 unanswered point to run out 48-24 winners.
The result was symptomatic of the Pickers season, with the young team able to dominate for periods of the game, but unable to produce 80 minutes of consistent football.
Pickers coach Trevor Ott had sought more strike power on the edges in reshaping his line-up starting Matt Ireland at halfback and Geordie Connelly at five-eighth.
After the poor start Zeb Luisi, Ireland and Liam Faughlin all crossed the line and Connelly duly converted with his boot, collecting four from four goals over the match.
An upset appeared on the cards, but reduced to 12-men for 10 minutes the Pickers were unable to hold out the powerful Scorpions attack and momentum swung again.
Macquarie coach Adam Bettridge warned the Scorpions could not afford a repeat of their Jekyll and Hyde display.
“Giving up a lead like that is not what we are about and I was really disappointed with it,” Bettridge said.
“Then the last 20 minutes we came home with a wet sail. We will take the win, but if we think that performance will win us a competition, then we are dreamers. We have to be better than that.”
Bettridge the sending of Mason to the sin bin proved the turning point.
“They had possession and the referee blew a penalty to us and sent him to the bin,” Bettridge said.
“It definitely hurt their momentum. We scored three tries when he was off. Credit to Maitland. They were down by 20 and started throwing the ball around and caught us out. They did a really good job.”
Bettridge said halfback Andrew Sumner and centre Nathan Cantor, who both crossed for doubles, sparked the strong finish.
The Scorpions sit on 21 points, two clear of South Newcastle, who accounted for Cessnock 38-14 at Cessnock Sportsground in the other game on Saturday.
Cessnock had no answers for South Newcastle after the break in Goannas star Chris Pyne's 200th game.
Their finals hopes now sit on a knife’s edge and they must win the next two games.
The Goannas’ loss was compounded when back-rower Brendan Hlad did not return after half-time with a wrist injury.
