THE Shellharbour City Sharks maintained their second spot position on the ladder with an impressive and gutsy 30 -18 victory over the Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles at Ron Costello Oval on Sunday.
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In a fiery and close game of rugby league, the Sharks dug deep and we forced to play one man short for 60 minutes and were without key players like Kurt Field and Jamie Manukonga.
An impressive and much improved Eagles outfit turned an eight point deficit at half-time into a six point lead with 20 minutes remaining.
Throughout the fiery clash, the Eagles forced mistakes in opposition territory but their execution and high error count didn’t allow them to make the best of their opportunities.
The home side posted first points through Matt Carroll, from close range, and Danny Sartori, who pounced on a loose ball in the in goal area, which allowed Carroll to convert both tries.
The Sharks led 12 -nil.
The match provided some heated exchanges which led to Sharks’ front-rower James Ralphs to be sent-off for throwing punches at an opponent.
The Eagles made most of a 12 man Shellharbour side, as Matt Stone crossed over for a four pointer agonisingly close to the western touchline.
At half-time the home side were up 12-4.
The Eagles got off to a flyer in the second period as Matt Stone secured his double, a dummy-half based try to Blake Jones and a barnstorming Lewis Hazelton, as Scott Austin slotted a goal and the Eagles were leading by six.
Shellharbour were down to 11 on the field as Brock Skelly was sin-binned.
Amazingly they posted four tries in the last quarter of the game to run away with victory.
Hans Schuster, a 50 metre range effort for Wade Aitken, speed star Jye Brocker and Nathan Cooper all crossed the line.
Carroll converted one try and at full-time the score was 30-18.
Best on field for the Sharks were Danny Sartori, Hans Schuster, Lloyd Thomas, Wade Aitken and Matt Carroll while Blake Jones, Chris Rowles, Dean Gray, Lewis Hazelton and Matt Stone were the best for Albion Park.