The long wait for a Hardly victory ended on the final game of the season as a spirited and disciplined performance saw Athletic run out winners against champions Eaton Park, by three goals to one.
With Matt Carter, Joe Gordon and Ash Newman unavailable and Dan Middleton and Andy McEvoy injured, Hardly handed a debut to Matthew Young, who deputised in the unfamiliar position of goalkeeper, after he declared his knee fit enough to stand up to the rigours of a spell between the sticks.
Eaton Park had already beaten Hardly twice during the season, 5-3 in the league and more recently 6-2 in the cup, and had only lost three times all season, with just one defeat in the league. This game though, even with Hardly's squad stretched to the limit, wasn't about to go the same route as it started at a frantic pace. Young was called into action early on and a couple of smart saves kept the scores blank whilst both Cope and Hallam tested the opposition stopper early doors.
The first half continued to flow at a frantic pace and a mixture of smart goalkeeping and strong defending, from both sides, kept the scores blank until just before half time when Cope found the bottom corner of the net from distance.
The second half started and the pace continued. Eaton had two rolling subs and Hardly's five did well to keep up with the pace with their fresher legged opponents, 100% commitment keeping Eaton out until just seven minutes left when the ball was hammered past Young from close range.
How Hardly would react was now the main question and the answer was fantastically as, just two minutes later, the lead was restored when Peart caught the ball sweetly and watched as it flew past the keeper and into the top corner to open his account for the season.
Eaton weren't going to give up easily and came firing back but committed defending stopped them before Cope laid off a free kick to Hallam in the dying seconds, the hitman, who got league player of the week from the official, turning and curling his shot into the bottom corner to seal the win.