HANWOOD held off a late charge from Lake Albert to claim a 2-1 victory in the Pascoe Cup grand final rematch on Sunday.
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A first half double to Daniel Johnson proved enough as the visitors continued their steady start to the season with an important win at Rawlings Park.
Hanwood had the better of the first half with Johnson finding the back of the net 20 minutes in, before making the most of a controversial penalty moments before half-time.
The Sharks had their moments early in the second half but it was a brilliant strike from coach Mitch Tinnock that brought his team to life.
The goal appeared to ignite Lake Albert, as they began to go on the attack against Hanwood.
The Sharks threw everything they could at the reigning premiers and created a couple of good chances only for Hanwood's defence to stand strong.
Hanwood coach Anthony Agresta was proud of the fighting spirit his team showed.
"We'll take it. We always knew it was going to be a tough slog over here against Lake Albert," Agresta said.
"We probably made it a bit difficult for ourselves in the second half but we held on.
"I said to the boys at half-time just like we came back against Henwood Park there a couple of weeks ago, we knew they were going to throw something at us and they did to their credit.
"I'm just happy that the boys dug deep and held on."
It gives Hanwood two straight wins and consolidates their position in the top four.
At the same time for Lake Albert, a second consecutive defeat has last year's grand finalists faced with the prospect of playing catch up in the short season.
Hanwood captain Anthony Agresta was on his team's best until he was substituted late in the game, while Joe Catanzariti and Jordan Bellato were busy throughout.
Duncan Brodie, Tinnock and Connor Hinchcliffe had good games for Lake Albert.
Agresta is happy with the way his new-look Hanwood team is coming together after three weeks of the new competition.
"We didn't prepare very well for that first game. I said to the boys, that was probably a bit of my fault, we probably weren't ready for it but re rectified that last week and again this week," he said.
"We got off to a good start today, which was pleasing, and we're slowly ticking it along.
"There was a big turnover of players from last year, everyone's getting used to each other again, new combinations and it's starting to slowly come together."
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