A loss to Workies at Lithgow on Sunday has left St Pat's 2019 Group 10 premier league season "right on the edge".
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St Pat's coach Luke Branighan said the team had expected a win going into the encounter at Tony Luchetti Sportsground.
"We'd trained well all week. We expected to come here and come away with a win," he said.
Instead St Pat's were soundly beaten 40-18, with the home team spurred on by a vocal crowd rugged up against the bitter cold.
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"Nobody likes coming to Lithgow and having a game at Lithgow, especially against Workmen's Club, on a cold winter afternoon," Workies premier league coach Graeme Osborne said.
The Workies hit the scoreboard early, with Greg Behan scoring within minutes of the kickoff. Jono Van Veen was next to cross the line before St Pat's capitalised on a penalty to put Adam Booth over.
Booth was over the line again before half-time after Chris Kirby intercepted Jono Van Veen's grubber kick and gave St Pat's another chance.
The Workies pushed over for another try before the half, with St Pat's quickly hitting back to bring the half-time score to 18-14.
The difference was the boot of Workies' Josh Howarth, who was in great form all match.
The second half belonged to the Workies and despite a try from Jack MacKey, St Pat's struggled to get any momentum and the Workies stretched out their lead to 40-18 by the final whistle.
Branighan said it was clear that Lithgow wanted the win more.
"Unfortunately it's a team game. We had five or six blokes have a real dig today but you can't have six out of 17 blokes against a good football team like Lithgow."
Branighan said defence would have to be a major focus in the coming rounds.
"We're leaking too many points. There's no real science to it. Lithgow just ran harder - that's the way they play, they just try and power through... And that's what they did today," he said.
"We probably had as many opportunities to ice a few tries as Lithgow did, but we weren't good enough to do it."
He recognised the hard work of Mick Hawkings, Zac Merritt and Hudson White for the St Pat's lineup.
"I put [White] back to the bench the other week to sharpen him up and he's come back in good form.
"We just need to win games or we'll be out of the semi-final race very soon. We're right on the edge at the moment."
This coming weekend will be a huge test for the St Pat's team, taking on Group 10 heavyweights Bathurst Panthers at home.
- LITHGOW WORKIES 40 (Jono Van Veen, Eli Felton, Greg Behan, Harry Bender, Greg Alderson tries; Josh Howarth 5 goals) defeated ST PAT'S 18 (Adam Booth 2, Jack Mackey, Adam Booth 3 goals).