HENWOOD Park took the mantle of Wagga's leading Pascoe Cup contender with a 3-0 victory over cross-pitch rivals Lake Albert on Sunday.
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The Hawks continue to build into their Pascoe Cup campaign nicely and at the same time ended Lake Albert's unbeaten start to the season with their best performance of the year.
A Matt Menser penalty was the only thing that separated the two teams in the opening half as the Hawks went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
Cam Weir, after drawing the penalty in the first half, produced a quality finish to give Henwood Park some breathing space at 2-0 midway through the second half.
Ash Woehler then put the icing on the cake, getting a head to a superb long-range Menser free kick to finish the 3-0 win.
To finish a disappointing day for the Sharks, Liam Bryder was red carded for a poor tackle late in the game.
Henwood Park co-coach Michael Babic was not completely satisfied with his team's performance but was happy to take the win.
"A clean sheet was very pleasing. I didn't think our general play was fantastic but to be able to keep a clean sheet against a quality side is always good," Babic said.
"I think we were comfortable. I think going forward, even though we got three goals, we didn't play the way I'd like us to as much as we can. But I can see the things progressing each week. We've worked a lot on our defensive set up and I thought the back four were tremendous today."
The Hawks' defence has been a project for Menser and Babic and they are pleased with how it is coming together.
"It takes time but the guys are listening and they're taking it on board," Babic said.
"We've worked hard to sort out our backline and I think if you have a solid backline and you set up well then you can go forward and trust that we've got guys going forward who can score goals like Cam Weir, who was fantastic today."
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Menser, who received a lot of attention from Lake Albert throughout the game, again had a big influence on the contest, while Weir was dangerous throughout.
Lake Albert had their chances, particularly at 1-0 down, but the game eventually got away from them.
Babic, a premiership coach at Lake Albert, said he took no extra satisfaction is downing his old club.
"I don't buy into those things too much," he said.
"At the end of the day, it was built as we train side-by-side but I know (Chris Ayton) very well, I get on with most of their players so it was more important just to get the three points and continue developing."
Pascoe Cup results
Leeton 1 d Wagga United 0
Young 4 d Cootamundra 0
Hanwood 9 d Tumut 1
Tolland 4 d South Wagga 1
Henwood Park 3 d Lake Albert 0
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