Soggy conditions at Pioneer Oval made it slippery underfoot, but a dedicated home crowd were still on hand to watch the Spacemen overturn a 7-nil half-time deficit, thanks largely to a spectacular hat-trick by winger Jacob Smede.

Smede benefitted from outstanding play from halfback Chad Porter to cross three times in the second 40 minutes and help the Spacemen to just a second win in six rounds.

It was a welcome return to form heading into the final two rounds while Macquarie were left to lament another loss after improvement was shown in wins against Nyngan and Forbes the two rounds prior.

The Raiders had begun better at Parkes and opened the scoring through Kane McDermott after a string of penalties.

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Macquarie kept Parkes at bay even when they were a man down to a sin-binning for a high shot and Five-eighth Wyndham Peachey, not for the first time this season, knocked over a field goal before half-time to increase the visitors' lead.

With the scores at 7-0 Macquarie was in the ascendency but Parkes coach Brent Wood admitted he had few concerns during his half-time team talk.

"I didn't tell them them too much. They were good in the first half, I was happy," he said at full-time.

As positive as he found the first half, even he would have been surprised by the Porter and Smede show in the second stanza.

Just three minutes into the second half Smede got the first of his tries.

The lanky winger leapt high above his opposite number Tyler Bamblett to score in the corner after an exquisite chip kick from former Western Rams halfback Porter.

The battle between Porter and Peachey in the halves was a highlight and the Raiders' five-eighth was pulling all the strings for his side as they rallied again.

Peachey's fingerprints were all over tries for winger Bamblett and centre Filisione Pauta and with the score at 15-6 the Raiders appeared to be heading towards a fourth successive victory.

But the Pauta four-pointer proved to be the Dubbo side's final points and the Spacies' attack started to gain the ascendancy despite some massive hits from the Raiders in defence.

Smede and Porter were combining to give Bamblett nightmares through a combination of chip kicks, bombs and dummies.

The halfback set-up two further tries for his winger to give the hosts the lead for the first time.

As much as it looked like Porter and Smede were executing set play after set play, the winger said it was a little more natural that.

"Not really, it just happened," he said when asked about his hat-trick after the game, preferring to pass on the plaudits to Porter.

"Chad's kicks were absolutely perfect."

Fittingly, it was Porter who put the icing on the cake as he went over to score in the 75th minute, much to the delight of his teammates and the Parkes fans.

The result, combined with Nyngan's win over Wellington, means the battle for third place on the ladder is heating up.

Macquarie remains third on 16 points but Nyngan is only one point back in fourth and there's just one further point to the Spacemen in fifth.

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