Coniston and South Coast United played out a thrilling 2-2 draw on Saturday at JJ Kelly Park. After South Cost hit the lead, Coniston thought they had secured the comeback however a late goal meant the points were shared.
After some good early possession, Coniston launched their first real attacking opportunity on seven minutes. Arthur Hugon put a long ball over the top for James Anagnostopoulos who drove into the box and was looking to square it across goal for Adam Voloder. Antonio Farkas made a crucial block to snuff out the opportunity.
Michajlo Jonjic managed to get some good purchase on a header from a freekick midfield that was floated in by Advin Trebincevic on 10 minutes, however it sailed over the bar.
It was an arm-wrestle for the next 20 minutes with both defences holding firm.
On 26 minutes, another long ball switch from Hugon found Temma Nomura out on the right. He drove into the box and cut the ball back to Harrison Anagnostopoulos who had his shot blocked by Farkas with the goal beckoning.
On 38 minutes, Nomura chased down a long ball that was being shielded out and did well to keep it in and drove into the box from the sideline however hie delivery to Adam Voloder who was lurking on the far post was wasted.
Just five minutes before half time, Coniston whipped in a corner that was adjudged to have hit the arm of Chang Yoo and a penalty was awarded. Voloder stepped up and hot a firmly placed shot to his left however Jason Bleakley read it well and managed to push it to safety.
Just a minute later, James Anagnostopoulos floated a ball into the box. It found Daniel Stern and his shot was defected into goal by Jonjic however it was ruled off-side. Another let off for South Coast United.
With the last attack of the half and perhaps against the run of play, South Coast United hit the lead. Mark Vidaic switched to Mark Moric and he cut inside from the right and curled one beyond Blake Horton however it came off the post and fell to Carlo Imola who found the net through a crowd of players.
Just five minutes after half time, a Coniston corner was not cleared well enough and during a bit of a scramble Hugon snapped a shot towards goal and produced a fine save from Bleakley.
A few minutes later a weaving run by Imola found Moric who let fly a shot from 25 yards that had Horton scrambling, just wide.
Coniston continued their attack and a neat flick by Voloder found Harry and his left foot strike from just outside the box was parried away by Bleakley as the home side stepped up the pressure.
Fifteen minutes into the second half and another failed clearance from a corner saw South Coast United punished as the ball fell to Hugon and he appeared to be impeded by Adam Farkas and Coniston were awarded a second penalty. Daniel Loe stepped up dispatched the spot kick to level the scores.
Just a minute later, Vidiac found himself through on goal after a fortunate bounce however Horton just did enough to put him off.
Halfway through the second half, an South Coast freekick from out wide was floated in to the box and was only partially cleared with Yoo swinging it to the far post and Jonjic appeared to a free header from six yards out but somehow missed the target.
Just a few minutes later, some wonderful individual work from Moric saw him work an opportunity however he slashed it well wide from 12 yards out after doing all the hard work.
South Coast were enjoying a good spell and Adam Farkas found himself in space on the right and he sliced his shot wide when perhaps he should have done better from there.
On 76 minutes, Dane Mathews whipped a ball into the box and Voloder’s flick on header from 15 yards out somehow managed to bounce into the corner of the net and put the home side ahead for the first time.
South Coast United were pressing hard late in the game and Moric’s shot from an acute angle was cleared off the line by Hugon.
In the dying minutes, a free kick was floated into the box, and it was not dealt with well by Coniston with Jonjic getting a header that snuck into the near post for a dramatic late equaliser.
There was no time for either team to impact the scoreboard as both sides finished all square.
Saturday 23 March @ JJ Kelly Park
Report by Bobby Mazevski
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