The victory keeps Weston three points behind the leaders Hamilton and two points from second-placed Edgeworth.

Bears coach Trevor Morris brought Jason Cowburn and Wilson Edwards into the starting eleven, with Jake Millsteed to the bench and Jamie Subat suspended.

As usual against South Cardiff it was a very physical encounter and the playing arena was no place for the faint-hearted.

Bears keeper Tim Pratt had to make two good saves, which made it three clean sheets for the year for Pratt.

After a dour first half the teams went to the sheds at 0-0 and even then it looked likely whoever scored first would be hard to beat.

Weston had 15 corners during the course of the game and Southy keeper Tom Pullin had a busy afternoon, making three reflex saves, and Southy also cleared the ball off the line on another two occasions.

Patience by good delivery into the box finally paid off in the 70th minute when Garry McDermott clipped the ball into the mix, Troy Hearfield out-jumped the defence and nailed his header with the ball sailing into the net to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

Jason Cowburn, who hadn’t played for a month, came off with 18 minutes remaining being replaced with Jake Millsteed.

Eighteen-year-old local Isaac Peek replaced Hearfield with 10 minutes remaining after playing under-19s earlier in the day.

The win may not have been pretty but it was three points the Bears needed.

n From back page.

The under-22s put in their worst performance of the year, going down 6-3 with Tom Sparre, Lachlan Rowen and Nick Thompson the scorers.

Weston’s under-19s had a huge win to the tune of 8-2 after being down 1-0; with Jacob Golding scoring a brace while Brock Lewsam, Hayden Burt, Mitchell Fisher, Joel Barner, Isaac Peek and Jake Sills all grabbing a goal each.

Weston hosted Maitland Magpies in the NPL Youth grades on Saturday and won all four games.

The under-17s won 3-1 with Beau Harris, Dylan Bentley and Tristan Muir scoring. They are now equal leaders with Hamilton.

The under-15s won 5-2 with doubles to Matt Foggarty and Ed Maddison while Lachlan Yates also got on the team sheet. Weston remains in fourth position and are now a step closer to playing in the final series.

Weston’s under-14s made it back-to-back victories with a resounding 5-0 win. Harlan De Jong, Harry Boardman, Seamus Donohue and Ben Fuller (a double) all found the net.

The under-13s won 2-1 with Brock Beveridge and Leo Byrne both getting important goals to remain in fourth position.

The youth sides will host Edgeworth on Sunday after being washed out in the first round. These games kick-off at 10am with the under-13s, under-14s at 11.30am, under-15s at 1pm and the under-17s finish off the day at 2.30pm.

The Bears seniors will travel to Arthur Edden Oval, Lambton on Saturday to take on the in-form Jaffas.