Maitland let their chance slip to grab top spot of the NPL Men's table with a 3-1 defeat by Lambton Jaffas at Cooks Square Park on Wednesday night.
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To compound the loss, star defender Zach Thomas was red-carded after earning his second yellow for a clumsy tackle in a dramatic final 10 minutes.
The Magpies, who are third equal on 26 points at the top of the table with Broadmeadow and Charlestown Azzurri, must now regroup before they host the Weston Bears who are coming off a 5-2 win against Lake Macquarie City at Macquarie Field on Wednesday night.
Trailing 2-1 and reduced to 10-men, the Magpies' chances of securing a point rose when Lambton's Luke Remington was handed two yellows and sent from the field for descent in the 85th minute.
However, their hopes were dashed when Kai Bradley scored the Jaffas third to go with second-half goals by Ben Hay and Kale Bradbery after Maitland skipper Jimmy Thompson had opened the scoring shortly after the break.
Wednesday night's clash continued a busy schedule of eight games in 30 days for the Magpies who staged a come-from-behind 3-2 win against Valentine on Sunday.
Backing up from a demoralising late 2-1 loss to Broadmeadow in the Australia Cup, Maitland skipper Thompson led from the front with a double and Alex Read tapped in from a corner after gifting Valentine a goal earlier with an own goal.
Maitland's workload has been compounded with heavy playing surfaces to contend with.
After Saturday's round 17 El Clasicoal derby, they face Edgeworth in a round 14 catch-up at Cooks Square Park on Wednesday, July 6, followed by round 18 away to Broadmeadow Magic on Saturday, July 9, a round 15 catch-up away against Adamstown on Wednesday, July 13 and round 19 at home to Charlestown Azzurri on Sunday, July 17, before they have the weekend of July 23-24 off.
Weston climbed to sixth on 17 points with their 5-2 win against Lake Maquarie City. Chris Hurley scored a double and Moustafa Mohammad, Connor Heydon and Jakeb Brownlow scored one each.
The win followed a 3-1 win against Adamstown at home on Sunday, with goals to Brownlow, Cooper Buswell and Mohammad.