CLAREMONT racked up its sixth win on the trot with a courageous victory over Central Hawks in an Abbotsfield Park mudbath yesterday and climbed into the top six of the SFL ladder. The Magpies thrived as the mud Pies on a water-logged deck, downing the fourth-placed Hawks with a gutsy team effort. Led by the King of Claremont, coach Ben Atkin, the Magpies fought back from six goals down in the opening quarter to steal a brave 12-point win, 13.4 (82) to 10.10 (70). ``It was fantastic,'' Atkin said. ``We were down to one fit man on the bench from half time. ``To fight it out in shocking conditions, and to get a real hard-fought, gutsy win was just fantastic. ``I'm really proud of the boys.'' The Central Hawks kicked 6.4 in the opening term and looked likely to thrash the Pies as they did the first time they met this season, by 66 points at Oatlands. The plucky Pies cut the early deficit to 16 points by quarter-time and took the lead in the second term, but the Hawks tied the game at 49-apiece right on the half-time siren. Claremont controlled the game for much of the third term, kicking three crucial goals while the Pies' backline kept the screws on the dangerous Hawks, restricting them to one. The final term was a mud-wrestle played mostly between the arcs. Claremont scored the first goal of the quarter through bustling forward Matthew Dyer at the five minute mark. The Hawks then kicked the next two, through Sam Burrill at the eight minute mark and Michael Conolon three minutes later. From that point it was a goalless struggle. In other games, New Norfolk remained undefeated with its win over Huonville at Huonville, Sorell's strong final term got it home against Cygnet at Cygnet, Kingborough was too good for Dodges Ferry at Kingston and Lindisfarne beat Brighton by 56 points.
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