The Magpies accounted for Hamilton 3-0 at Cooks Square Park to rise to third place on 33 points, just two behind the Eagles with two games in hand on the leaders.

Edgeworth, shooting for a record 13^th top division premiership and fifth in a row, lost 3-1 to Phoenix at CB Complex in a game where leading scorer Oliver Smith was sent off for a second yellow card in the 67^th minute before headbutting Valentine's Jacob Bailey.

The headbutt, which happened right in front of the referee, could mean a season-ending suspension for Smith, who led the league with 12 goals before the weekend.

The Eagles were down 1-0 after a howler from keeper Josh Low gifted Bailey Garland a goal in first-half injury time.

Down to 10 men, Edgeworth levelled through a Josh Rose goal in the 78^th minute before their shouts for a penalty were turned down.

Valentine then pulled off the upset of the season with a composed one-on-one finish from Kaleb Pearson in the 89^th minute and a strike from the edge of the box from Matt Paul in the 91^st.

Edgeworth coach Damian Zane was disappointed not to get the penalty for contact from behind on a player having a shot. He offered no comment on the headbutt but he believed Smith was unlucky to get a second yellow before the incident.

The result hurts Edgeworth's premiership hopes but Zane said: "I don't think it mattered anyway. I thought if Maitland won, they would probably roll on.

"We could have been up, we had some chances cleared off the line. I thought if we went in at nil-all, I thought we'd fix a few things and go from there, but the send off didn't help."

Valentine co-coach Darren Sills was proud of his team, which was boosted by the return of Ben Hay and Josh Carroll from overseas.

"I thought it was the best we played all year," Sills said.

"We set up in a formation to attack from depth and we did that well in the first half without much success. And we scrambled really well in defence. They probably deserved a couple in the first half as well but I think we did enough to get a result."

At Maitland, the Magpies backed up their FFA Cup midweek 2-0 loss to Central Coast with a dominant display against Olympic.

Andrew Swan scored with a header off Ryan Clarke's cross in the fourth minute, Clarke did it all himself in the 69^th and Nick Cowburn iced the win with a strike in the 85^th.

At Weston Park, Dutchman Jason Tjien-Fooh equalised in the 86^th minute to lift the Bears to a 2-2 draw with Charlestown that left them a point off top spot on 34.

Weston skipper Nathan Morris put the hosts in front in the 18^th minute with a great first touch and strike inside the box before Kane Goodchild scored with a one-on-one chance after Riley McNaughton pounced on a loose pass in the 26^th.

The Blues lost Goodchild to injury just before half-time but still went ahead in the 72^nd when Rene Ferguson chested down a ball and hit a strike on the turn.

Both sides had chances late in an end-to-end battle but it was Tjien-Fooh who delivered with a quality left-foot finish off a long ball in behind.

The result left Charlestown in sixth place on 29 points.

On Saturday, Lambton Jaffas beat Broadmeadow 2-0 with goals from Josh Sutton (67^th minute) and Braedyn Crowley (91st) at Edden Oval to move to fifth place. Broadmeadow dropped to fourth on 32, a point behind Maitland.

Adamstown and the Jets Youth had a 1-1 draw.

Pointscore:

POS TEAM P W D L For Agst GD PTS

1 Edgeworth FC 18 11 2 5 40 20 20 35

2 Weston Workers FC 18 10 4 4 38 27 11 34

3 Maitland FC 16 10 3 3 34 22 12 33

4 Broadmeadow Magic FC 17 9 5 3 38 26 12 32

5 Lambton Jaffas FC 16 9 3 4 34 17 17 30

6 Charlestown City Blues FC 16 9 2 5 30 23 7 29

7 Newcastle Jets Youth 17 6 3 8 27 31 -4 21

8 Hamilton Olympic FC 18 5 4 9 26 30 -4 19

9 Adamstown Rosebud FC 19 3 2 14 20 40 -20 11

10 Lake Macquarie City FC 16 3 2 11 21 45 -24 11

11 Valentine FC 17 3 2 12 26 53 -27 11