The Red Devils had a kick to level at 31-all with five minutes to play after Emori Waqavulagi crossed for his second try of the game. But it was unsuccessful and the Highlanders held on to take the points 31-29.

Their first loss for the season, the first 20 minutes was what cost them.

It was a horror show of missed tackles, dropped catches and simple errors.

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"In two years it was probably the worst 20 minutes of football I've seen them play," Martin said.

It was fresh in his memory when he spoke with the Namoi Valley Independent, having just finished rewatching the game.

"We had 12 missed tackles in the first 20 minutes, three dropped catches, one forward pass, one overthrow at a lineout, one penalty at the ruck," he said.

"The first try they scored, they went through four missed tackles."

They also "didn't get off the line in D (defence)" and struggled exiting their red zone.

The result was a 17-nil deficit.

"After that the boys decided we'd better start doing something," he said.

They got back to 17-7 at half-time, and after a half-time "spray" outscored the home side four tries to two in the second half.

They weren't at full strength - they were missing five from the forward pack - but Martin wasn't using that as an excuse.

"We dominated the scrum," he said.

"They were on roller skates in the scrum.

"It's why it's so disappointing; we had them in a lot of areas."

The Highlanders have proven a bit of a bogey side for the Red Devils in recent years.

Martin was at a loss as to what the problem is.

"I don't know what it is. We went up there, we're a team that has got a lot of confidence at the moment.

"I just know that we were own worst enemies and put ourselves in a position that made it impossible to win," he said.

They switch on in the first 20 minutes and it could have been a very different story.

He thought no one really put their hand up, aside from the 'old warhorse' - Matt Hannay.

Into his 40s, he said he is "still doing more than enough to keep the young guys at bay", noting that he won multiple tight heads for them.

"He needed to play big minutes," he said.

"He did exactly what we needed him to do."

After holding it for three straight weeks, the loss also saw the Red Devils relinquish the Kookaburra Challenge Cup.

Compounding their woes, they could have potentially lost Lachy Mack for the season, or a while at least, after he picked up a knee injury. Martin said he is going for an MRI this week.

Second grade earlier pipped the Highlanders 29-28 in another thriller while the women got up 25-20 over Barraba/Gwydir with Chennelle Winsor and Lana Bottrell both scoring doubles.

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