The Maitland Magpies slumped from third to sixth after conceding two goals in a disastrous final 10 minutes to lose 2-1 to Charlestown Azzurri at Cooks Square Park on Sunday.
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Maitland looked set to establish a two point buffer on a chasing pack of four teams when Braedyn Crowley tapped in a super cross from Jimmy Thompson in the 76th minute.
But a double to Charlestown's Rene Ferguson starting with a penalty after a handball in the 80th minute and an unguarded header in extra time saw the Magpies back in the pack and with plenty of soul-searching ahead of the final four rounds of the regular season.
Results elsewhere compounded the Magpies' failure to defend their lead at home.
In the biggest shock of the round Lambton finished Edgeworth's unbeaten start to the season with a 3-1 victory to move to fifth on the table.
Newcastle Olympic jumped to third with a 6-2 smashing of Lake Macquarie and the Weston Bears salvaged a late 2-all draw against Valentine with goals to Cooper Buswell in the 79th minute and Aaron Niyonkuru in the 81st after trailing 2-0 at half-time.
The result leaves the Bears in fourth spot, equal on 14 points with Olympic. Lambton, Maitland and Charlestown are all on 13 points filling the next three spots respectively.
Broadmeadow cemented their hold on second place with a 3-0 win at home against Adamstown.
In a game which had reached no heights at Cooks Square Park, Maitland appeared to have finally found their attacking mojo when Thompson ran onto a magical Ryan Clarke back-heel deflection and sent a darting pass along the goal line for Crowley to tap in.
However, defensive lapses again cost the Magpies dearly and they clocked up their fourth loss of the season to go with their four wins and a draw.
Magpies coach Mick Bolch said it had been a poor performance and he was particularly disappointed by the Magpies' failure to defend against a set play at the end.
"We've been poor against set plays all year. Rene Ferguson is their danger man and for him to get a free header with five minutes left is just not good enough," Bolch said.
"I thought we didn't play much football all day, we turned the ball over and were poor with the ball.
"To their credit they just didn't give up and kept on coming at us to score two goals in the last 10 minutes and end our unbeaten record at home.
"They were hungrier for the win than us."
