Mandurah City consolidated their second spot on the WA State Leaguer Division One ladder with a hard-bought 2-0 win over UWA Nedlands on Saturday.
City should have been four up after 15 minutes as shots peppered both posts amid a flurry of caves from the visiting keeper.
But it took a push on Abe Tcuono and the resulting penalty spot kick from Jordan Rhodes to break the deadlock on 20 minutes to give the home side the led they thoroughly deserved.
City dominated the first half and should have led by a bigger margin at the break but it only took 4o seconds of the second period for them to double their lead.
A defensive slip left winger John Brooks with the simplest of tap-ins to make it two as a large home crowd looked for more.
UWA, to their credit, fought back and pushed City hard, preventing further goals as coach Doug Hesketh brought on recently returned striker Ged Burke in an attempt to find a third.
It was not to be — but Hesketh said he was pleased with the result.
“We had to grind out a result in wintry conditions and three points is three points,” he said.
Everyone battled fort each other and I know there a disappointed faces in the dressing room because the expectation her dis so high, but we won and that is all that matters.”
City go into a tough two weeks now with an away game at Dianella on Saturday, an FFA Cup quarter-final clash with Gwelup Croatia on WA Day and another league home game with Western Knights in a fortnight.