Smarting from a one-all draw instead of collecting all three points on Sunday against Adamstown, the El Clasicoal derby on Wednesday night is the ideal platform for the Weston Bears to reassert their finals credentials and get one up on Maitland.
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The Bears host the Magpies from 8.15pm and hope to repeat last year's home derby win under lights.
On the weekend Weston dominated play before and after Jordan Jackson was sent off for a late tackle in the 51st minute to leave them with 10 men.
"The boys are pretty disappointed with the result, even when we were down to 10 men we dominated and should have got a winner," Weston assistant coach Craig Stoker said.
"The boys always look forward to the derby against Maitland and after the disappointment of Sunday they have even more incentive to get one up on them.
"You just can't afford to drop points in the games you are expected to win.
"The way we played was good, the manner we retained possession and our movement off the ball was good. We created opportunities but we just could not finish the game off."
Weston will be without Jackson on Wednesday, but is hoping to have the rest of their squad apart from injured Liam Wilson and Jackson Burston.
Maitland is coming off a 5-1 smashing of Valentine Phoenix, with striker Joel Wood scoring a hat-trick.
The Magpies' front-third of Wood, his fellow striker Braedyn Crowley and Jimmy Thompson were in superb touch, clinically taking the opportunities they created after seeming to find every way possible to miss in their previous game despite a 4-1 result against Lakes.
The Bears will be hoping to find a similar turn around in fortunes after peppering the goal repeatedly but only finding the back of the net once.
The Buds opened the scoring in the 12th minute from a free kick on the right.
Midfielder James Lowe sent the cross in, and Bears keeper Scott Carter failed to deal with it adequately. Coming off his line early, Carter could only paw the ball in the direction of Tyson Cummings, who buried it low in the net to give the men in green an early lead.
Despite the scoreline, it had been the Bears who had controlled the majority of general play and who were creating a far higher volume of attacking opportunities.
By the interval the home side led having registered just a single attempt on goal - compared to 10 for the Bears, who also led the corner count 7-0.
Weston's pressure told less than two minutes after the resumption, as Aaron Niyonkuru grabbed an equaliser after the ball had been pinging around in the box for an extended sequence.
The Bears very nearly doubled the advantage just two minutes later, when Chris Hurley's cross found Connor Heydon in prime real estate. Unfortunately, Heydon failed to find the target.
Despite Jackson's red card in the 51st minute the Bears continued their attacking onslaught earning a flood of corners - the tally sat at a lazy 10-0 after two thirds of the match.