Coniston and Cringila played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at JJ Kelly Park on Sunday.
Coniston started the game strongly, with early chances to Tobias Norval and Temma Nomura going begging.
Midway through the half, Danil Romanov weaved through the Coniston defence; however, he just couldn’t quite get enough purchase on his effort.
Just a few minutes later, Dean Dimoski’s left foot strike from the edge of the box whistled by the far post as Cringila worked their way in the match.
On the half hour, Ethan Kambiosis let loose a cracking left-foot strike that was destined for the top corner, only to see Jair Fernandez pull off a top drawer save to deny him.
On 37 minutes, Jayden Branovski was put through; however, he sent his shot wide.
Right on the stroke of half-time, the home side got the breakthrough. James Coombes created a bit of room on the left before whipping in a teasing cross that saw Tyler Fuller get a deft touch that saw the ball sneak into the far post.
Just a few minutes after the break, Cringila drew level as Dimoski got in behind the defence before neatly tucking the ball away under Fernandez.
On the hour, Norval flicked on a cross that forced Kenji Sawada into a fine save.
On 64 minutes, a goalmouth scramble ensued with Elias Howe blocking twice in succession to deny Cringila.
It proved pivotal as less than ten minutes later, there appeared to be some defensive miscommunication with an inconspicuous long ball deep in Cringila’s half. That moment of confusion saw Branovski sneak in and tuck it past Sawada to put the home side back in front.
Cringila pressed hard late in the game and were rewarded on 85 minutes when Taylor McDonald drove a ball through the pack to level it up once again.
There were a couple of late chances for Cringila deep into the game, firstly with Youn Ciugureanu forcing a strong save and then Romanov with a quick free kick that grazed the wrong side of the post.
Report by Bobby Mazevski
