Mitch Dempsey and Taylor Miller compete for possession of the ball. Picture: TARA GOONAN
SHARKS made it two wins in a row against Albury yesterday to assert themselves as competition favourites.
Minus Matt Hogan, Greg Ward and Richie Davis, the Sharks were too good for Albury which was without Nick Dempsey.
Trailing 2-3 at quarter-time, Sharks fought back to secure an 8-6 victory at the Albury Swim Centre.
The second quarter was Albury’s undoing.
It conceded several soft goals to go into half-time down on confidence and down 3-6 on the board.
Sharks’ Shannon Gould and Ben Douglass were damaging in attack, courtesy of some lacklustre marking.
Albury consolidated in the third quarter to edge within two goals, 4-6.
But it couldn’t go on with the job in the final quarter as the Sharks held their nerve to fight out victory by two goals.
Gould scored three goals in the win and was supported by Brendan Dickie and Taylor Miller with two each.
Jimmy Scannell scored three goals for Albury.
The Tigers backed up from their loss with a 9-4 win against Northside in the second game of their double header.
Albury got the start it was after through Harry Duck and Mitch Dempsey.
Their goals helped Albury to a 3-0 lead at quarter-time.
Northside fought back but the result was never in doubt.
Albury coach David Gould said he was happy with the team’s performance, first week back from the Christmas break.
“Considering we’ve had a few weeks off I thought we played well for most of the two games,” Gould said.
“We’ve still got a little bit to work on in our attack but that will come as we get back into training this week.
“Our fitness is probably the area we can improve the most.”
Albury Tigers women salvaged their weekend with a nail-biting win against Northside.
Alex Cox and Kate Johnson scored five goals between them to lift their team over the line despite the best efforts of Emily Harvey (two goals) and Sam O’Connell (two).
Earlier, Albury went down to Sharks.