The contest opened in regular fashion until Mudgee’s Nathan Orr committed an illegal spear tackle, prompting a host of punches thrown by players from each side.

When the smoke cleared, referee Billy Greatbatch gave Nathan Orr an early shower, before sending Mudgee’s Hamish Bryant and Lithgow’s Lachlan Piper from the field as well – both of the latter are alleged to have thrown punches.

This gave the home side a one-man advantage that immediately impacted the game as Workies produced a trifecta of four-pointers, stretching the 4-0 advantage they held before the altercation to 18.

A pair of Joe Bilby tries in the 15^th and 21^st minute sandwiched a Husam El Refaai try that came in the 18^th.

The Red V took momentum into the break as Lachie Hill scored, cutting the deficit to 18-4.

Lithgow didn’t give the Dragons a sniff until the dying stages as the second half was largely dominated by the home side.

A consistent downpour affected the style of the match, one that appeared to suit Lithgow and its gritty forward pack.

“We’re still trying to put a few combinations together and with four players out to injury it makes it hard,” said Lithgow coach Graeme Osborne.

“Matt Mizzi was great for us today.”

Despite putting 36 on the board, Osborne still wants to sharpen up not only his side’s attacking structure but its completion rate too.

“Our attack was a little bit disjointed in stages today,” he said.

“Our completions have been killing us too. We do the stats every week and last week we made 290 tackles with 60% completions.

“If we can get 75% completions we can play with anybody.”

A win for Workies was near-essential on Saturday as they play Orange CYMS and Orange Hawks in a ‘terrible road run’.

As for Mudgee, the Red V is riding a 12-game club losing streak as none of its sides have tasted victory since round one at Blayney.