The fact it was their Coalfields rival Weston who did it - in an El Clasicoal derby no less - only serves to make it that touch more painful, especially when the winning goal was scored by a former Magpies player in Tom Duggan.

"They set up to shut us down and to stifle our attack and, to their credit, they implemented what they set out to do," Magpies coach Mick Bolch said. "They were well organised and we were not good enough on the day to break them down.

"We started okay and hit the post, and their keeper had to make a good save from Charlie Cox in a one-on-one, but after that we didn't really offer much.

"The second half was a bit of a grinding affair. We lost the ball in our attacking third midway through the second half and they hit us on the break and scored."

The loss means Maitland have surrendered the competition lead to Broadmeadow (13 points), one ahead of Maitland and Lambton Jaffas.

But Maitland are going to have to get used to teams setting up defensively, so this loss is a good lesson.

"Look, there's no way we were going to win every game so it's important we learn from it," Bolch said. "I can assure you the players were hurting after the game. We have a pretty young squad here and you have to learn some lessons the hard way.

"But I'll be interested to see how they respond in our next match. I'll want to see them bounce back."

This weekend was put aside by the NNPL as a catch-up weekend for any postponed games. It means the Magpies next clash will be their FFA Cup match against Singleton at Cooks Square on Wednesday night (May 5) at 7pm.

The next competition match will be on Sunday, May 9 when they are at home to struggling Valentine who have yet to score a point.

"They have three really experienced players - a couple of them are former Maitland players in Matt Thompson and Joel Wood - and a bunch of promising kids."