Bathurst ’75 Panthers FC have suffered a shock 2-1 loss away to Lithgow on Sunday and in doing so, surrendered first position on the Western Premier League ladder.

Panthers had been joint leaders of the competition, level on points with Orange Waratahs, but Waratahs’ 5-0 victory over Dubbo FC has seen them leapfrog the Bathurst side.

Panthers went into the match confident after Lithgow had lost their last two matches against Orange and Orana Spurs, their only win of the season having come against cellar dwellers, Dubbo.

However, the home side came out firing and defied their record.

“Lithgow got in our faces early and we didn’t rise to the challenge,” Bathurst coach Mark Comerford said.

“They just showed more urgency and enthusiasm and we came out too relaxed.”

Lithgow dominated the opening period as Bathurst found themselves behind 2-0 after 25 minutes.

The second goal snapped Bathurst back to reality and they began to string some passes together and threaten Lithgow’s goal until a breakthrough came via from a Scott Evans strike just minutes before half-time.

Comerford said the team went into the half-time break confident that they could turn the result around despite trailing 2-1.

“We scored a goal and had other chances, so we did improve at the back end of the first stage,” the Bathurst leader said.

“It was a matter of being patient and working on keeping possession and first touches.

“If we could do that we knew we only had to get one goal to match them and go from there.

“As it turned out, we couldn’t convert the field position we had into an extra goal, we spent most of the second half chasing the lead.”

Panthers showed patches of brilliance in the second period but were unable to break the Lithgow defence to equalise, the match finishing 2-1 in Lithgow’s favour and resulting in Bathurst slipping to second on the ladder.

“We were able to string passes together and create half chances but we would make a mistake on the last pass or Lithgow would get a foot to the ball, we just couldn’t finish,” Comerford said.

“We went down there and on paper we should have been able to come away with the three points.

“We had a couple of players out but we thought we still had enough quality to win.

“I put it down to a mental thing,” he said.

“We didn’t look hungry enough and we allowed Lithgow to get on top early and they were able to hold onto that lead.”

LITHGOW 2 defeated BATHURST ’75 PANTHERS FC 1 (Scott Evans goal).