CSU FC had reason to feel confident heading into their Bathurst District Football Men's Premier League game against Mudgee Wolves on Sunday.
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The Stags had put together one of their strongest lineups this season while the Wolves weren't able to field any substitutes for their trip to Proctor Park.
When the students pulled ahead to a 3-1 lead a first win for the season was looking inevitable for the home side.
Wolves had other ideas.
With quick back-to-back second half goals the Mudgee men defied expectations to level the scores and hold on for an unlikely draw.
The match pitting together the bottom two teams on the ladder was a great opportunity for CSU to start building momentum but they've instead been left to work out what went wrong.
In the eyes of CSU co-coach Mitch Kunnen it was an attitude issue.
"I think we approached the game with the wrong mentality and that was our achillies heel in the second half. Not switching on was what gave Mudgee two quick goals in that second half," he said.
"We started off really strong. We noticed they only had 11 players and we thought it might have been one of the easier matches we'd have. We had people coming back from injuries and previously being unavailable.
"That confidence showed in the first half when we scored three goals."
Jarrod Brown got the Stags off to an excellent start with his headed goal off a corner.
Wolves levelled but goals from Shaun Patterson and Felix Croshaw ensured CSU were sitting in the box seat at half-time.
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Unfortunately for CSU they couldn't maintain the level of football they displayed in the first half and were made to pay for it.
Kunnen said there's still plenty of time left to get things back on track for the club.
"We took our foot off the pedal and we underestimated their ability to play for the full 90 minutes with just 11 players. That was our undoing," he said.
"It was a disappointing draw, to say the least.
"I was pleased with the first half. It was just a pity that we couldn't extend that lead.
"We're only one round into this competition where we get to play each team a couple of times so there's still a long way to go and there's improvements that can be made."
The only consolation to come from the result for CSU was that the draw gave them their first point of 2019.
CSU have been in the hunt during their recent contests but have let games get away from them.
The latest examples were a 4-1 loss to Lithgow Workmans and a 6-2 loss to Panorama FC Black.