The hard luck stories were shared around after Southcity and Young battered out a 20-all draw in the mud at Harris Park on Sunday.
On top in the first half, Southcity led 16-8 at halftime before Young hit the front 20-16 in the 61st minute, only for the Bulls to snatch the last try to square the result.
Along the way, both teams bombed scoring chances in the hazardous conditions, while others were lost for different reasons.
Young captain-coach Neil Thorman later claimed the Cherrypickers were incorrectly denied a try in the dying minutes of the game.
Thorman was adamant the ball was grounded correctly by a Young player following through on a kick from Matt Murray, but referee Bernie Nix ruled otherwise.
“I’m sure we scored,” Thorman said on Sunday. “Our photographer was snapping away down there and I’ll be interested to see the photos.”
Across the divide, Southcity captain-coach Nick Skinner was also feeling put out over the tied finish.
Skinner, who was named on the bench but started at prop in place of Brent Sbowden, made it clear a miscommunication had been costly for the Bulls.
In the frantic final minutes, Southcity did not take a shot a penalty goal shot that could have broken the 20-all deadlock.
With points at a premium, Southcity disregarded the opportunity to grab the lead in the 74th minute from the penalty, which was awarded 20 metres out and not far off the centre of field.
Moments later Southcity lost the ball without threatening to score a try.
For Thorman, settling for one premiership point was “disappointing”.
“Yes (we should have won),” he said. “I thought we should have come out on top.”
The Bulls were superior for most of the first half with a 12-4 advantage in the 31st minute before Young winger Jack Bush scored a diving try three minutes later.
It took the try by Southcity 22 seconds from halftime to push the Bulls out to a 16-8 lead.
With Thorman at halftime calling on his backs to rise to the challenge, Young struck twice in 15 minutes to hit the front.
Lively Murray put Tom Bush over with a short pass in the 47th minute before Bush caught the Bulls napping by diving over from dummy half from short range in the 61st minute.
In a twinkling, Young was up 20-16 but some Nathan Rose magic levelled things up four minutes later.
A failed conversion meant all square at 20-all and the fateful decisions still to come.
Murray and prop Aaron Slater were outstanding for Young, with the draw dipping the ‘Pickers to sixth on the ladder.
In other results Reserve Grade lost 2-18, the Cherryettes won 22-12, the Under 18s lost 12-16 and the Under 16s 4-18.
