Nine rounds into the Provisional 2 Competition and this was the first showdown between the Hawks and second position UWA. This weekend’s game was at UWA’s home turf on a late (and cold) Saturday night. A win in this game would move the Hawks side to second. A loss would mean the Hawks had more ground to cover to be minor premiers.
Once again the team line up had some major changes with John Heath filling in for Leighton Keane and Gavin Mclarren who were unavailable, while Brett Chappels was back and roaring in place of Andrew Airey. All players knew this was an important game. Everyone was pumped and eager to take second spot away from the unknown UWA side.
Some would say the game was jinxed from the start when Captain Lee Hansord lost the toss, third game in a row. The Hawks weren’t going to let this worry them and were quick off the mark going into attack. The first 5 minutes was very even, a goal could have gone anyway. As it turned out, UWA managed to sneak one behind the net against the play. The game restarted and the Hawks weren’t going to let a goal behind get to them, however out of no where UWA managed to score again. Now two goals down the Hawks still kept their heads held high, unfortunately once again UWA sneaked another quick goal.
The game wasn’t even 15 minutes in and the Hawks were three goals down. The Hawks regrouped and were determined to not fall any further behind. Like clockwork the team upped the ante with frequent runs into attack. It didn’t take long before the team was rewarded their first short corner. With “short corner trapper” Leighton out Lee had to handle the trap and shot all on his own, which he pulled off perfectly powering the ball behind the net. The game restarted and the Hawks kept attacking. Once again the hawks were rewarded a short corner and just like the previous Lee put the ball nicely behind the net.
Half time and the score line was a not too bad 2-3. The second half started and once again both teams were butting heads with frequent attacking opportunities. Unfortunately UWA were once again lucky enough to get the ball behind the net to move their lead up to two goals, again. The Hawks were determined to get back into the game, however no matter how hard they fought they couldn’t make it in time before the full time whistle.
The game ended 4-2 in favour of UWA. The Hawks now sat too comfortable in third after a game that could have gone either way. Next week’s game is on the UWA turf again on Saturday midday against fourth position Riverside Lions.
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