The Showgrounds resounded with Lake Albert's victory cry, as the Sharks claimed the Pascoe Cup minor premiership on Saturday night.
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The Sharks skinned an in-form Henwood Park outfit 6-0, crushing the Hawks’ premiership hopes.
Sharks coach Michael Babic believes they have shored-up the minor premiership, three points clear of nearest rival Cootamundra and ahead on goal difference, with three games in hand, against cellar dwellers Northern Riverina Nomads, eigth-placed Tumut, and Cootamundra.
Henwood Park was competitive in patches, early-on in the first half, and again, early-on in the second half.
Down by three goals at half-time, Henwood Park coach Kyle Doswell begged his team to recover.
“Do you have the desire for a five-nil half?” he said.
“If you don't, we're not going to win the premiership.”
But the Hawks couldn’t match it with Sharks’ freak forwards, Fred and Henri Gardner, and every forward-movement was annulled by Sharks’ sweeper Ben Angel and keeper Michael Tinnock.
“We stayed on our feet in the mud,” Babic said.
“We created chances, not just created them, we took those chances.
“We know we can score goals, but I’m super impressed with another clean sheet.
“He (Tinnock) was really dominant in his box, he never looked like being beaten, he was outstanding.”
Doswell subbed himself on in the second half, only to be shown a yellow card after a warning, and then a challenge with Tinnock.
65 minutes in, Lake Albert scored two quick goals, and Henwood Park stopped communicating.
The Hawks squandered chances to maintain possession, clearing the ball into traffic and losing it, rather than keeping it on the ground and playing to an open player.
Despite being heavily-targeted, the highly-vocal Gardner brothers enjoyed playing a vital role in the Sharks’ win; Henri scored a hat-trick for the fifth consecutive week.
“They attract the attention, they’re good enough to put up with it as well,” Babic said.
“We just let them play, we don’t try to rein them in. Freddie was surprised when, I said before the first game, ‘you just do whatever you want, you just play soccer.’”
At the season’s inception Babic allowed a new-look Sharks squad time to adjust.
“I said, ‘I don’t care what happens in the first four games, from then on we’re not going to lose another one,’” Babic said.
“Well, it only took us two games, and it’s been 12 in a row.
“We’ll finish with 15.”