A strong first-half performance was enough to see Hanwood make a winning start to the season with a 3-0 victory over Henwood Park on Sunday.
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The home side was able to start brightly and was able to open their season with a cracking goal after a Daniel Rogato cross was found by Joey Schirripa, who placed an exquisite volley into the back of the net.
Hanwood had a couple of close calls through Rogato and Daniel Johnson before the home side were able to score their second of the game as the ball was worked back into the box from a corner by James Stockwell, and a great header from Anthony Agresta saw the ball past the Henwood keeper.
Hanwood added a third from the penalty spot after Jordan Beltrame was pulled back by the Henwood defence just before he looked to get a shot away, and Johnson made no mistake from the penalty spot.
Henwood Park had a couple of decent chances in the second half that were turned away by Nicholas Zappala, and Hanwood looked to have added a fourth midway through the second half before the Beltrame strike was ruled out for offside.
Zappala was given his marching orders with 15 minutes remaining in the second half after he brought down Matthew Cain just outside the box, which saw Johnson placed in goal for the final quarter of an hour.
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Hanwood were able to hold Henwood Park out for the remaining time to secure a clean sheet with the 3-0 win.
Coach Brian Bertolin knows there is still some work that needs to be done despite the strong first-half showing.
"First half was alright, but the second half was a bit scratchy," he said.
"Losing our keeper to a send-off probably put us under a bit of pressure because we had to switch things around a little bit.
"It's just about getting the boys to gel because there are eight new players in the whole squad, so that will be a bit of a challenge moving forward."
The Hanwood coach was full of praise for the young boys out on the wing, with much of the good first half play coming from their hard work.
"I think when we got it out wide in the first half, we showed how dangerous we are out on the flanks," he said.
"We probably went away from that a bit in the second half but definitely in the first half with Chaise and Daniel Rogato on the other side, we looked good when we spread it."
The one downside from the game will be the at least one game suspension for Zappala, while Michael Bresolin also came off with a hamstring complaint.
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