HENWOOD Park confirmed their status as Wagga's number one Pascoe Cup team with a 6-1 thrashing of Lake Albert in Junee on Sunday.
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The Hawks moved into third place on the Pascoe Cup ladder after their second win over the Sharks for the season.
Henwood Park got the better of a tight first half. Lewis Crowley got the Hawks on the board first, before Jamie Rankin found the back of the net to level the scores.
Mat Cain then stepped up and enjoyed a couple of big moments to put Henwood Park 3-1 ahead at half-time.
The late goals appeared to sink the Sharks and they never were able to get back into the contest. Cam Weir starred with a second half hat-trick to notch the 6-1 win.
The scoreline could have been greater too, if not for a couple of uncharacteristic misses from the penalty spot by co-coach Matt Menser.
Henwood Park co-coach Michael Babic was impressed by his team's performance.
"The first half was a bit closer than that but the second half we just blew them off the park and they had no answer. We were wasteful," Babic said.
"The first half was fairly even but we took our chances and they didn't. We went in at half-time at 3-1 up but the second half they just didn't come out and we ran away with it."
With five teams battling it out for four spots in finals, the win was understandably important for Henwood Park.
Babic said so on a couple of fronts.
"We talk about this all of the time. You've got to keep beating the bottom sides, and then when you come up against the teams competing for the top five, you've got to get as many points as you can," he said.
"And at this stage of the season you've just got to keep trying to collect three points every week. Keep yourself moving forward and in the four. There's five teams battling for four spots and it's important to do that.
"It's also important, we've played them twice this year and beaten them comfortably both times. If we have to play them in finals we can come into it feeling good."
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Babic was pleased to see the Hawks produce another strong display heading into the business end of the season.
"That's very pleasing. The last month's been very tough," he said.
"We haven't trained that much, playing Hanwood out at Forrest Hill, and then Wagga United came out and gave us a hard run last time, but to come out and put up a performance like that today was very satisfying.
"I guess the players are starting to buy in and believe in what we're doing. I can see in their performances that they're very clear in what we're trying to achieve and their role in what we're trying to achieve so it's very satisfying."
Menser went into the game under an injury cloud but got through without any problems. Key Lake Albert midfielder Levi Hughes was unable to complete the game due to injury.
Babic also praised the Junee club for their efforts in hosting two Pascoe Cup games at Burns Park, after they were moved from Rawlings Park due to the wet weather.
Pascoe Cup round 13 results
Young 5 d Cootamundra 0
Leeton 3 d Wagga United 1
Henwood Park 6 d Lake Albert 1
Hanwood 6 d Tumut 1
South Wagga 2 d Tolland 0
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