Moss Vale led 24-4 at half time before a soaring Jets comeback including six second half tries and a penalty goal after the fulltime siren split the points at Community Oval.

Matthews said the crucial refereeing decisions may have sidetracked his team’s attention, but he expected more of his players.

He said the second half sin-binning of second-rower Michael Butterfield for a head-high tackle had got to some of his players.

“Okay, a lot of people thought it was a dud decision - when was the last time you saw a sin-binning for a head high tackle?” he said.

“But we need to get on with the game and not let it worry us.

“We can’t blame the referee - he had nothing to do with our performance.”

The coach summed up his team’s effort in three words.

“Flat, sloppy, fatigued,” Matthews said.

“Maybe we were a little fatigued from the Camden game last week but there were no excuses for that effort [against the Jets].”

Matthews said his there was a feeling of disappointment in the dressing room after the game because the players knew they were in the box seat heading into the second half.

“We were all disappointed, but it’s not a loss,” he said.

“I’d be filthy with a loss.”

Matthews said the performance of his bench players Damian Barton and Ben Murchie was particularly pleasing on Sunday.

Playing on the wing, Murchie crossed for a hat trick of tries.

But Murchie three-try effort was overshadowed by Narellan winger Ben Baker who crossed for four tries.

The speedster caused significant trouble for Moss Vale’s right edge defence and he scored one particularly memorable try in the 70th minute.

Baker scooped the ball up in his own in goal, beat two defenders to get back into the field of play before being pushed back in goals by some strong Dragons defence.