New Lambton ended Lambton Jaffas' perfect NPL premiership defence, snatching a 1-1 draw with a 90th-minute penalty from skipper Josh Piddington at Alder Park on Tuesday night.
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The Jaffas started their dual NPL men's title defence with 12 victories to lead the league on 36 points.
They were ahead in the catch-up game against the 10th-placed Golden Eagles with a goal from Kale Bradbery in the 18th minute but were unable to grab a clincher.
A foul in the penalty area gave New Lambton the chance to equalise and Piddington, a premiership and grand final winner at Jaffas before switching clubs this season, stepped up and slotted the opportunity.
The point lifted New Lambton, led by former Jaffas coach Shane Pryce, to five for the season and boosted their prospects in the relegation battle with Lake Macquarie (3) and Adamstown (2).
Jaffas, now on 37 points, are still seven clear of next best Broadmeadow (30).
** Lake Macquarie coach Peter Preston has taken encouragement from a fighting effort against second-placed Broadmeadow.
The 11th-placed City, who play Charlestown on Saturday, gave Magic a scare on Friday night, despite the 3-1 result.
Lakes keeper Isaac Nyman stopped a penalty moments before Jacob Field put the visitors up in the 57th minute. Magic equalised four minutes later through Nic Kacev. Tom Beecham scored with a header from a corner in the 89th minute and Jarred Baker converted on the follow up from his blocked penalty in the 92nd.
"I thought we played pretty well," Preston said.
"We had a good shout for a penalty just before they scored their second. It looked clear-cut to me, but he didn't give it and we've got to live with that.
"We've just got to have maturity there. We lost our way emotionally for a couple of moments and they went bang, bang. But that's part of the learning with a young group."
Preston, meanwhile, said he was disappointed to lose window signing Jordan Lennon after one game but "we move on". Lennon was part of a 6-1 Australia Cup loss to Magic a day after joining Lakes. Two days later, just after the window closed, he messaged Preston saying he didn't want to play anymore.
"I was a bit disappointed because I'd had him for so long in the academy days and when I spoke to him he was really upbeat," Preston said.
"It is what it is, we move on. We can't worry about who's not there, only who is there. We'll be giving some younger ones opportunities where we can and just try to build some depth and hopefully over time, if we stay up, we can attract players to make us stronger again."
