Josh Rose inspires Edgeworth to vital win on wet weekend of NPL

After Saturday's three games were washed out, the fifth-placed Eagles moved to 16 points, further clear in the race for the top five, with victory over the Bears (11 points) at Jack McLaughlan Oval on Sunday.

Weston gained the ascendancy in the 14^th minute when Aaron Niyonkuru pounced on a poor touch in defence before firing in a shot from an acute angle.

But Edgeworth, missing skipper Pat Wheeler (calf) and Liam Wilson (suspended), equalised in the 32^nd minute when Dylan Holz fired a through ball for Rose, who found Jeremy Brockie for the finish at close range. The hosts were ahead five minutes later with a back-post header from Brockie off Rose's cross from the left.

The Eagles went 3-1 up with a Will Bower penalty in the 82^nd minute after he was fouled by Zac Sneddon.

The Bears struck in the third minute of stoppage time with a cracking volleyed strike from Sam Kamper, shortly before the final siren.

McGuinness was relieved to get the points against a Bears side who knocked them out of the Australia Cup.

"They are a decent team Weston," McGuinness said. "In the cup game, we drew and then they won it in extra-time, so I knew it was going to be tight. They are in the hunt for fifth spot as well, so it's an important win."

While Brockie got the double, it was 40-year-old Rose who provided the pinpoint deliveries.

"I've got to pay tribute to the guy because every week I shuffle him around into different positions to adjust to what we are doing, to fix things, and every week he turns up and delivers," McGuinness said. "He's a great guy and a great player."

In the late game, Valentine beat Lake Macquarie 1-0 at Macquarie Field to rise to sixth on 13 points. Phoenix scored in the 87^th minute with an Adam Mlinaric header off Ryan Clarke's cross. Lakes were down to 10 men in the 90^th after Nic Charlesworth was red carded for an off-the-ball incident.

On Saturday, the Adamstown v Maitland and Lambton Jaffas v Charlestown games started then were abandoned in the first half as torrential rain made pitches unplayable.

Northern NSW Football operations manager Liam Bentley said referees' reports will be assessed before a ruling on Monday on how the games will be completed. They could be restarted from kick off or when play was abandoned. The round eight clash between Broadmeadow and Weston was abandoned in the 46^th minute because of an injury and was later restarted from that point and completed midweek.

Maitland led Rosebud 2-0 at Adamstown Oval thanks to a fourth-minute header from Braedyn Crowley off a corner and a James Thompson finish in the 12^th. The match was stopped on 33 minutes.

The clash between unbeaten leaders Charlestown and the defending premiers at Edden Oval was halted on 32 minutes with the score 1-1. Azzurri led when Matt Tull headed in a rebound off the crossbar in the 18^th minute. A Mitch Rooke header in the 22^nd minute put Jaffas level.

Cooks Hill's home match against Broadmeadow was washed out entirely.

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