Hawks president and coach Garry Lavender was definitely in the relief category after his team came good last week against the Roosters and seemed to shake off some of its earlier inconsistency.

“We really showed Ashford what football is all about the week before, and we replicated that down at Boggabilla,” Lavender said.

“I tell you what, it was one of the hardest and fastest games I have witnessed for quite a while to be honest with you. It was solid, and you couldn’t say Boggabilla went down without a fight.”

He thought the goal kicking probably made up the difference in the scores at the end of the match.

“It was try for try, but Guy Mepham never missed a goal in the windy conditions.”

Lavender said the Hawks held a 24-14 lead at half-time, were 24-22 with two minutes left on the clock and he gave credit to James Ballinger.

“He had one try disallowed, and he ended up scoring under the sticks about the 38^th minute, converted the try and gave us an eight point buffer,” Lavender said.

What gave Lavender and Hawks fans a great deal of hope was the fact that they had four regular players unavailable for the game.

The win puts the Hawks into second place behind Boggabilla on this year’s ladder. With Sunday’s game against the Moree Boars in Moree, Lavender is hoping to stay in that position with the Ashford Roosters and the Guyra Spuds making up the top four.

Warriors president Peter Rice said they will be out to bounce back this weekend against the Ashford Roosters to consolidate their place on top.

“We know full well, if you do the figures, it could be the difference between us finishing on top of the ladder or running second,” Rice said.

“We’re better to have lost one now (against the Hawks) than in five or six weeks time.

“Our players will be looking to bounce back, and I wouldn’t like to be Ashford coming over here on Saturday.”