Mounties have fallen to their third loss of the season after being defeated by Wyong 20-16 at a saturated Morry Breen Reserve Wyong on Sunday.
Wyong opened the scoring in the 7th minute when a Nicholls grubber was picked up over the line and with the conversion the home side led 6-0.
Mounties hit back in the 11th minute when Mosese Pangai busted the line open to cross and a suburb conversion by Mitch Cornish locked it up at 6-6.
Both teams started to find the going heavy and with fresh troops on both sides and a very short 10 metres it was a restrictive brand of football being witnessed by a small but hardy audience.
Steady rain saw both teams bogged down in the middle and a penalty to Wyong in front of the sticks enabled them to take an 8-6 lead at the twenty nine minute mark.
With half time in sight, Mounties went to the air in the 39th minute and a deflection off the Wyong defender landed in the arms of Joe Bond who reached out to score and Mounties led 10-8 at the break after the conversion from Cornish went wide.
The break did not see a change in the weather and with continued heavy rain there were not a lot of scoring opportunities to be had until the 58th minute when Reece a Goldsmith powered his way over the line from dummy half to give Cornish an easy conversion and Mounties extended their lead to 16-8.
Wyong were not finished though and in the 68th minute a defensive lapse saw them score under the posts to reduce the deficit to two points as they trailed Mounties 16-14 and in the 75th minute, they took the lead when a chip and chase payed off and they scored a converted try to make it 20-16.
Mounties had a chance to steal back the lead in the final minute when Jeremy Hawkins made a long break but an ankle tap saw the play break down and Wyong hung on to survive.
In the Ron Massey Cup Mounties scored a comprehensive 32-10 win over a much improved Kingsgrove on Saturday night at Jubilee Oval, while in the Sydney Shield, Mounties were beaten by last years premiers Belrose by 30-4.
Next week all three grades are at home with Sydney Shield taking on East Campbelltown at 11:30pm, Ron Massey taking on Wests at 1:15pm and the NSW Cup will play Wests Tigers in the main game at 3pm
