With heavy rain a constant through the afternoon, it was the home side who made the most of their opportunities and pushed through playing with 12 men for the majority of the game.

The wet and muddy conditions took their toll on the game, with handing errors a common occurrence.

The home side looked the more dangerous in the game’s opening stages, a Sean Jenkins bust almost led to the first points.

It didn’t take much longer for the first points to come though, Eagles’ fullback Blake Jones finding just enough of a gap to score out wide for 4-nil.

The Eagles’ joy at their early lead was short-lived however when Gerringong’s next set of possession saw centre Simon Harris sent-off for an alleged lifting tackle.

While they may have been a man down, the Eagles played to the conditions better and the kicking game of Matt Carroll kept Gerringong under pressure as he manufactured a number of repeat seats.

The tactic paid off when five-eighth Chris Rowles dived over from close range.

Carroll’s conversion made it 10-nil.

Gerringong looked like they would open their account thanks to some nice work by Danny Wedd but the Eagles killed the ball in goal before the Gerringong winger could dive on it and the score line remained unchanged at half-time.

As the players returned for the second half so did the rain and the opening stages of the second half was played in torrential rain.

After the rain Gerringong dominated possession and finally managed to open their account.

A Joel Roberts bomb resulted in an error and the ball found its way into the arms of Adam Moore who barrelled over.

Roberts’ conversion made it 10-6.

Moore’s try seemed to spark the Lions up, but some poor hands and lack of composure meant they couldn’t trim the lead anymore.

Carroll’s boot then bought the Lions undone again, the halfback first to the ball after grubbering into the in goal to make it 14-4.

Sensing they were running out of time Gerringong tried all they could to get themselves back into the game but Albion Park produced some stout defence to hold the visitors out.

A penalty goal to Carroll put the game to bed at 16-6.

For the home side, Carroll, Jenkins and Kurt Holloway were the Eagles’ best, while Nathan Ford, Andrew Poppett and Tim Moore did all they could for Gerringong.