A last minute own goal rescued a point for Wollongong United as they drew 1-1 with Dapto Dandaloo at Dandaloo Oval on Sunday.

A thumping drive across the face of goal from Robbie Shields in the 88^th minute ricocheted off a hapless David Hartas and into the net to ensure United’s unbeaten run stretched to eight games.

The goal wiped out Alvin Ceccoli’ s 75^th minute penalty as both sides were left ruing missed opportunities on their way to the draw.

 “I think it was a fair result for both teams to come away with a point,” said United coach Oliver Vrtkovski after the game.

“In the first half I think we could’ve gone in 3-0 up, we played some great football getting forward and we contained them pretty well.”

An early header that zipped past the upright was Dapton Dandaloo’s only major chance of the first half as Wollongong took the game to the league leaders.

A fine double save from Fury keeper Mitchell Blowes kept his side in the match while United’s diminutive frontline stretched the Dapto-Dandaloo defence.

The first half display forced Fury coach Norm Boardman to make some changes during the break to find a way back into the game.

“We just had to be more organised when we lost the ball,” said coach Boardman.

“We had to make sure we picked up that second ball when it was coming out from the back and just to be a little bit neater with our passes.”

The changes proved influential as the Fury found their legs and took over the second half.

Shaun McRae was the danger man for Dapto Dandaloo early in the half but was unable to find the back of the net.

Wollongong keeper Sam Nastic, not to be outdone by his opposite number, produced an even more impressive duo of saves from a goal mouth scramble when United failed to clear.

“We tried to change things up a bit at half time to improve our game,” said Vrtkovski.

“Unfortunately it didn’t work out for us but credit to Sam who was exceptional for us and that’s where you rely on your keeper.”

­The draw knocked the Fury off top spot as Bulli leapfrogged them on the ladder.

Despite the result coach Boardman was happy with how his team performed on the day.

“All in all I’m pretty happy with the performance,” said Boardman.

“Wollongong will cause a lot of other teams’ problems because of the way they play and while I’m disappointed with the result I can be happy in terms of the performance compared to where we’ve been recently.”

Dapto Dandaloo continue their tricky run of games next round as they host Tarrawanna while Wollongong United face lowly Bellambi at Elizabeth Park.

Dapto Dandaloo Fury 1 (A. Ceccoli) Wollongong United 1 (D. Hartas [O.G.])

 

Julian Keith 

FSC Reporter