A GOALKEEPING masterclass from Lake Albert's Logan Wilford allowed them to end Harlequins' premiership dynasty and bury the demons of 2017 with a 1-0 grand final win on Saturday afternoon.
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Looking for a fourth straight title, Harlequins attacked Lake Albert's goal relentlessly in the last quarter, but couldn't find a way past player of the match Wilford.
The final whistle was relief for Lake Albert's remaining players from 2017, when they gave up a 3-0 grand final lead against Harlequins to go down 4-3.
Wilford was set to play in Melbourne's premier league this year before coronavirus struck, and showed his class with a superb display of skill and concentration.
Ben Baker scored the winning goal in the third quarter after a cross from the sideline evaded everyone else, allowing him to find the decisive deflection.
Lake Albert skipper Adam Boyd was also skipper in 2017, and admitted flashbacks from three years ago were setting in as their rivals threatened to find an equaliser.
"You could tell that last quarter it was nearly all happening again, but we got away with it," Boyd said.
"There was definitely conversations every quarter saying 'don't let it slip away', we knew they were going to come hard and we had to hang on.
"They peppered us in the last quarter and our goalkeeper was unreal, he certainly won us the game.
"He was meant to be moving down to Melbourne and we didn't have a goalkeeper at the time, we were just lucky.
"Harlequins stepped it up for sure. We had a lot of blokes in our team who hadn't been to many grand finals, whereas they're in one every year.
"We had to default to playing good defence. They had two penalty shots in the last minute, but I got a stick to one and the other one they missed."
Harlequins captain-coach Brendan Watson said Wilford was simply too good on the day it mattered most, with Lake Albert going through the season unbeaten.
"I felt like we were well and truly in it all day, we created enough chances but Logan was given best on ground and there was a reason for it," Watson said.
"He kept them in the game. There was two or three times just off my shots he saved that most goalies around here wouldn't save.
"He had a cracker of a game and he was definitely the difference between the two teams."
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