The Raiders' wait for their first victory since rejoining the Hastings League will now have to wait at least another seven days.

The officiating was questionable on more than one occasion at Lake Cathie Sporting Complex on May 22 where several decisions left both teams scratching their heads.

Raiders coach Zac Bruen stopped short of blaming the referee for another defeat although he expressed some concern at what happened out in the middle.

"I'm not one to ever blame refs, but something really needs to be done about that because it's just not football and it's not pub footy either," he said.

"It definitely didn't help either side, but Laurieton were a little bit hungrier in the end and injuries again got to us, but our boys showed a lot of heart."

Bruen said it was a tough time at the club, but it was pleasing to see the effort off the field match what was happening on it.

"We've got a good bunch of people here at Cathie and I really appreciate every time they turn up," he said.

"They turn up knowing we could possibly lose another game, but they still turn up and they dig in for each other and that's all we want.

"That's what we can build around."

Stingrays hooker Simon Cass was impressive for the victors with two tries while he always asked questions of the defence.

The win added to the momentum Laurieton has started to create over the last three weeks where they have registered a win, a draw and a six-point loss to Lower Macleay.

Captain Tamati Wigman said it was a direct result of their fitness starting to improve.

"Our pre-season was pretty shot and we didn't get a lot of sessions together so our match fitness wasn't there from the start," he said.

"Over the last few weeks we've played with numbers down so it's showing our fitness is there and we're starting to reap the rewards.

"The last few weeks are starting to pay off for us."

Wigman echoed Bruen's sentiments in expressing some disappointment at the level of officiating.

"It was a bit of scrappy game especially in the first half there were a lot of penalties and whatnot."

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