A two-nil deficit just three minutes after the half-time break was not how the battle between fourth-placed Bears and Phoenix, in eighth, was expected to pan out.

However, late goals to Cooper Buswell and Aaron Niyonkuru at least enabled Weston to escape with a point while top four rivals Edgeworth and Maitland both lowered their colours in games they were tipped to win.

For minor premier favourites Edgeworth, the 3-1 loss to Lambton cut their lead at the top of the ladder to five points from Broadmeadow Magic who are on 19 points after a 3-0 win over Adamstown and in turn five points ahead of the chasing pack.

For Maitland the 2-1 loss to Charlestown saw them drop from third to sixth, equal on 13 points with the Jaffas (fifth) and Azzurri (seventh).

The Bears sit fourth, equal on 14 points with Newcastle Olympic after Olympic leapfrogged them with a 6-2 win against Lake Macquarie.

The Bears will need to take lessons from Sunday if they are going to secure a spot in their first finals series since they made the grand final in 2014.

The first half was largely dominated by rough and scrappy midfield exchanges as the visitors looked to build from the back with a patient, possession-based approach and the home side looked to disrupt them via means that sometimes extended beyond the parameters of the Laws of the Game handbook.

The tactics of the men in orange paid dividends as the Bears found themselves frustrated and headed into the sheds with the game scoreless and limited clear-cut opportunities having fallen their way.

Just 33 seconds after the break, the hosts opened the scoring through Josh Murray, who produced a great finish in the top left hand corner after the defence had fallen asleep and left him in acres of space 15 yards out.

With the Bears now on the back foot, Valentine ramped up the pressure and doubled the lead exactly two minutes later when Jacob Bailey converted a simple one on one under no pressure from the opposing defenders.

The Bears responded excellently to the setbacks though, and some superb lead up play saw a golden opportunity fall the way of Cooper Buswell, whose deft curling effort in the 65th minute when through on goal drifted just inches wide of the right post.

The Bears continued to mete out relentless pressure on the Valentine backline, which finally yielded in the 79th minute to a strike from Buswell after some clever interplay between himself and Niyonkuru inside the box that left the defence flummoxed.

In an instant there was life to the contest once again, and no sooner had the deficit been halved than Niyonkuru buried a close range header from a brilliant Sutherland cross to level proceedings just eighty five seconds later. It was nothing less than Leo Bertos' men deserved given the weight of attacks in their favour.

The following ten minutes saw a relatively frenzied affair play out as the Bears threw the kitchen sink at a winner and the Phoenix threw 10 men behind the ball in a desperate attempt to ensure they left the fixture with at least a point to show for their efforts.

Ultimately the deadlock remained unbroken, with the game representing two dropped points for the Bears.

Going forward to the final four rounds of the regular season, Weston has been partnered with Broadmeadow Magic, Lambton Jaffas, Charlestown Azzurri and Lake Macquarie City.

Weston's run home starts with the round 10 against Broadmeadow at Magic Park on Saturday. The Bears host Lambton on Saturday, September 19, followed by Charlestown (away) and Lake Macquarie City (home).