St Pat’s fought back twice to snatch the win from the Dragons, who have more injury concerns.

Try-scoring sensation Corin Smith went off clutching his right shoulder while player-coach Jack Afamasaga’s leg injury is worse than first thought and he could miss the rest of the season.

Dragons’ co-captain Jared Robinson said it was disappointing to lose the way they did.

“We wanted to win that one especially at home,” Robinson said.

“It pretty much guaranteed the minor premiership if we got that one.

“We’ve been the same all year. We’ve been patchy. We’ve been real good in parts and unfortunately we’ve been pretty bad in other spots, and that was evident again here today.”

For St Pat’s coach Kurt Hancock, he could not fault his team’s performance despite both teams playing an error-riddled and ill-discipline match.

“They probably completed [sets] a lot better than we did and the only thing that sort of held us in was our D [defence],” Hancock said.

“We spoke about that during the week and that was the pleasing thing. Our attack was a bit off but we will take two points.”

With his side in equal first position with Mudgee, and with games against Orange Hawks and CYMS to come, this was a huge win for St Pat’s.

“At the start of the year our goal was top two and we felt we’ve got the side to do that. At the moment that goal is becoming more realistic for us,” he said.

“If we end up with the minor premiership, we do. But there is still a lot of water under the bridge yet.”

Mudgee could not have asked for a better start.

Their kick-off bounced into touch, they then tackled St Pat’s in-goal and on their second set inside St Pat’s 20 metres, Chris Ward sliced his way through to score the first try of the match.

The Dragons had more opportunities with the ball in St Pat’s territory and it wasn’t too long before they were rewarded when Tim Condon scored to make it 8-0.

Midway through the first half, St Pat’s centre Dave Howard dropped the ball and Mudgee counter-attacked through Hamish Bryant who passed it off to Nathan Orr for a runaway try and a 12-0 lead.

St Pat’s searched for a way back into the game and hooker Benjamin John delivered when he slipped his way through some flimsy defence to score.

Just before half-time, a Cameron Neville kick bounced up nicely for Jake Bright who scored near the posts and five-eighth Garry Reilly added the extras to make it 12-all at the break.

Mistakes and penalties dominated the opening proceedings of the second stanza; neither team showing the type of football that put them at the top of the table.

Mudgee struck first in the second half when Orr scored his second. Tom Lewsley’s sideline conversion made it 18-12.

But St Pat’s hit back almost immediately when quick hands put Mick Armstrong over in the corner for an 18-16 score line.

With the pea of referee Jason Whitney’s whistle getting a work out by both teams, the flow of the game was continually interrupted.

Mudgee had an opportunity to score but Lewsley was tackled into touch.

A minute later, down the other end, a Lewsley knock-on from a high bomb allowed St Pat’s to score from the scrum when Cep Ale burst through Smith and Condon’s tackle attempt.

The conversion was not converted and the visitors led 20-18 with 10 minutes remaining.

Condon tried to make amends a short time later when grubber-kicked the ball through on St Pat’s line but fullback Ben Hews defused the situation.

Mudgee had another crack with a minute left but when they turned the ball over, the game was St Pat’s.

Hooker John was one of the best for the blue and whites, as were Ale and prop Luke Single.

It’s Mudgee’s fourth loss in five weeks and Robinson said his team needs to get back to playing smarter football.

“I don’t think it is a mental thing,” Robinson said.

“We just have to play smarter and we’ve been saying that all year. We’ve been winning games but we’ve been scrappy and we haven’t really learned our lesson. 

“Hopefully today, it proves that when we play good footy we are up 12-nil and we let that slipped. That is something we have to work on too.”

Premier league

BATHURST ST PAT’S 20 (Mick Armstrong, Jake Bright, Benjamin John, Cep Ale tries; Garry Reilly 2 goals) def MUDGEE DRAGONS 18 (Nathan Orr 2, Tim Condon, Chris Ward tries; Tom Lewsley goal).