After dogged sideline work from Chris Hadfield provided the cross, Niyokuru hung in the air for what seemed an eternity before throwing himself at the cross with a delightful bicycle kick that he deposited past Maitland goalkeeper Taylor Pate into the top corner at the 44 minute mark.

It gave Weston a 2-1 lead going into the break after Hadfield opened the scoring in the 13^th minute after he brought down a long ball from Blake Archbold with a deft touch off the chest to bring the ball down and then turn Zac Thomas inside out before slotting home past Pate.

Maitland's Braedyn Crowley squared the ledger in the 27^th minute after receiving a quality delivery from Matt Hoole. Crowley turned the ball goalwards superbly and while a diving Weston keeper Gerard Roebuck got a glove to the low strike, he could only watch on as the ball trickled over the line to square the ledger at 1-1.

Going into the break with the lead would no doubt have buoyed Bear coach Kew Jaliens' men, while Mick Bolch's Maitland outfit were surely left scratching their heads at allowing Hatfield to feed in a cross in the first place. They had enjoyed the early running, before Weston dragged themselves back into proceedings in the latter part of the half.

Emerging from the sheds with a similar spirit to how they had finished the opening stanza, the Bears looked to get on the front foot early.

The Magpies were cutting slightly frustrated figures and a moment of madness from Regan Lundy saw him leave some studs in on Sargent with a boot raised off the ground in the 47th minute; he was promptly dismissed and the visitors were now behind not just on the scoreboard but in personnel as well.

A 51st minute free kick from the top left corner of the box was well struck by Niyonkuru, curling just out of the reach of Pate and clattering into the post, with Jackson desperately unlucky to turn the rebound back into the open net, doubling the Bears' advantage.

A superb run from Cooper Sargent in the 56th minute saw him skip through a couple of Maitland defenders and then square a low pass up on a plate for Archbold, who made no mistake from close range to extend the advantage to 4-1.

Joey O'Connor and Tom Duggan combined for the final goal, with O'Connor providing a through ball for Duggan in the 84^th minute.

As the Bears now look to prepare for a midweek trip to Edgeworth to take on the Eagles in a rescheduled round one fixture. It will be followed by a home game against Newcastle Olympic on Sunday, March 10.

The Magpies take on competition new-comers New Lambton on Saturday, March 9.