Hanwood has come away with three points after fighting back from a goal down to take a 2-1 win at home over Wagga United.
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Knowing they would need a victory to maintain their pursuit of a top-four finish and coming up against a Wagga United team who also needed points if they were to keep their hopes alive it was building as a tense encounter.
It was the visitors who were able to strike first just after the half-hour mark Matt Crawford finding the back of the net, and they nearly doubled their lead with Kein Crevatin going close.
It was Hanwood who were able to strike back just before halftime with Michael Cimador and Nathan Battochio combining to see Battochio continue his good scoring run after placing the ball into the bottom corner.
Just after halftime, Hanwood could have taken the lead when Battochio found Joesph Catanzariti in the box however the midfielder sent his header into the crossbar.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, Battochio was able to give his side the advantage after a sharp turn in the box and blasting the ball past the keeper to make it 2-1.
That would be where the scoreline would remain however Wagga United were fortunate to finish the game with 11 players on the field after a late tackle on Anthony Agresta only resulted in a yellow card.
Coach Anthony Agresta said it was good to get the win despite it being what he thought was one of their worst games of the season.
"I said to the boys before the game we knew they were going to come with the game plan to sit back and try and frustrate us and get us on the break and they managed to do that with the goal," he said.
"To the boy's credit, they toughed it out and dug deep, so from that point of view, it was pretty pleasing. Even after going a goal down, we found a way to win, and some times you have to win ugly, and that was the case today.
"Compared to last week when we probably had our best performance for the year and this week was probably turned into one of our worst."
After what was a physical encounter, Agresta believes his side have escaped any injuries.
"There are the knocks that are going to come at this time of year, but hopefully we can get through next weekend then we have the bye after that," he said.
"Fingers crossed we can manage everyone through this week."
The victory means Hanwood have leapfrogged Tolland and Young who both dropped points this weekend, but Agresta knows there is still work to be done.
"Hopefully the win today is able to lock us into finals," he said.
"We still have to win next week, and then hopefully we can rest up.
"We knew that we had these three games and then the bye we knew we had to pick up as many points as we could and put ourselves in the best position."
Tolland fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Leeton United who are now first while Young drew 1-1 with Henwood Park.
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