Were the strikers that good or did the Beefeaters simply nod off?
"We were a little bit off the pace and not quite switched on to what we should be doing, especially in the first half," said centre back Milne.
He returned from a match suspension yesterday but also picked up a yellow card, although he marshalled Bay United's defence to a noticeable diffrence in the second spell to concede just one goal.
"In the first half, dealing with their big men was a bit of an issue for us," he said after Eastern Suburbs went up 1-0 through former Bay United striker Sean Lovemore in the 14th minute.
Lumbering striker Osita Henry Chikere picked up a yellow card for a studs-up tackle not long before McPherson perceptively substituted him in the 56th minute when Rowbury gave him a dressing down for a collision with Bay goalkeeper Joshua Hill.
Both charging players were ball watching a cross into the goalmouth so there was no malicious intent.
Milne said they made the adjustments in the second spell for a great result.
"Brett's been saying all season that when we play well, we'll score, so it's just about shoring things up at the other end," he said, lauding the team goals.
Bay United striker Saul Halpin equalised in the 31st minute from an indirect free kick in the penalty area which deflected off the defensive wall on the goal line and into the net.
That was the result of a controversial decision after a Suburbs defender trapped the ball and keeper Michael O'Keeffe picked it up, which Rowbury deemed a back pass.
More histrionics followed in the 40th minute when Bay keeper Hill slid in his penalty area legs up to take out Chikere before getting his hands on the ball. Rowbury rightly awarded a penalty kick which Moses Dyer deftly slotted into the net for Suburbs to lead 2-1.
Englishman Halpin found the equaliser for 2-2 in the 43rd minute when he latched on to an unconvincingly cleared corner from Cory Chettleburgh from 25m out to slot it into the left-hand corner for the goal of the match.
Milne crisply drilled another goal from inside the penalty area after another lethargic effort at clearing a corner for a 3-2 lead in the two minutes of first-half added time.
Bay striker Sam Mason-Smith ended his goal drought at home this summer in the 58th minute as he toe-poked the ball from the acutest of angles with a defender and O'Keeffe trying to close him down, 4-2.
Kilkolly got in on the act in the 65th minute for a 5-2 lead, before ex-Bay United skipper Ross Haviland pulled one back to 5-3 in the 73rd minute.
But Suburbs' joy was shortlived when Halpin struck the left upright before a series of passes amid calmness saw him lay it back for vice-captain Chettleburgh to make it 6-3.
A disappointed Lovemore lamented the game "blowing out" but lauded the Bay for their tenacity.
"We had a good first half but you can't win a game in one half," he said, agreeing both defences were under scrutiny.
Lovemore was less sympathetic towards the ref.
"Questionable refereeing decisions again but I'm not going to get involved because I know where it's going to get me but we get a lot of it. But we can't blame the referee for losing 6-3."
A frustrated Lovemore said he saw the back-pass ruling "as a block and I think the whole ground did".
"Our keeper Mikey picked it up but, like I said, it's another questionable decision although we lost the game and we can't blame the referee for that because it's our own fault and, hopefully, we can look forward to next week now."
Milne felt Rowbury had had a pretty good game.
"There's always going to be decisions that are debated and maybe there's a penalty against them which wasn't one and then we may have argued the one at our end where Josh felled their forward, so there'll be mistakes in boths teams' eyes but, overall, it was very well controlled."
That result catapulted Bay United back into the top-four reckoning in fifth place, one point behind Eastern Suburbs.
Auckland City have reclaimed the top rung with a game in hand.
