Neither Albion Park White Eagles nor Port Kembla were able to walk away from their Illawarra Mercury Premier League clash with all three points, with both sides netting in a 1-1 draw at Terry Reserve on Good Friday. Port would strike first, with Sandy Lowcock netting in the opening half after a quick free-kick, but Albion Park would rally, with the side recovering from a send off just before the half-time break to level the scores in the 61^st minute thanks to a Kody Maude goal, ensuring both sides would earn a share of the points.

Albion Park were looking for revenge against Port Kembla who won both corresponding matches in the 2017 regular season, but it was the visitors who started the stronger of the two sides, with Makoto Ishihara creating the first chance of the match in the 9^th minute when his deflected shot was met by a clever save from White Eagles keeper Chris Fuentes Ramirez.

Fuentes Ramirez would be called into action again in the 18^th minute, when he was forced to rush out to stop an attacking play from Sandy Lowcock, but Lowcock was too fast and his centered ball was met by the foot of Naruyuki Kato. However, Kato’s shot was cleared off the goal line by the Albion Park defence and a follow-up attempt resulted in nothing coming from the attack. Albion Park would have their first real chance of the match in the 30^th minute, when a corner from Chris Nathaniel was met by the head of Nathan Ralph, but Ralph’s effort was just too high for the Port Kembla goal.

However, sixty seconds later, the match would have its opening goal. After Makoto Ishihara was brought down just outside the Albion Park box, a quick free-kick from Port Kembla allowed Naruyuki Kato to burst through onto goal, but before he could shoot, the player played off a pass to Sandy Lowcock, who managed to take advantage of the confusion and slot home his shot to give Port Kembla a 1-0 lead.

Albion Park would spend the remainder of the first-half looking to break back into the match and they got agonizingly close to netting in the 35^th minute when a cross from the far right side of the field ended up just out of the reach of Chris Gomez and despite a spirited follow-up effort from Hikaru Kawasakiya, Albion Park were unable to break down the Port Kembla defence. The White Eagles had their task made harder when Farres Aoun was given his marching orders in the 41st minute for an off the ball incident, meaning Albion Park would enter the break both a goal and a man down.

With the hosts coming out in the second-half needing a goal, Port Kembla continued to push in an attempt to find a second and potentially match-winning goal, and they came close to netting in the 57^th minute when a clearance from Albion Park’s Kane Wright accidentally went over the head of Fuentes Ramirez and bounced towards an open net, however the White Eagles shot-stopper was able to get back in time to prevent the own goal.

As the match entered its’ final third, Albion Park began to find themselves in an increasing amount of space and their patience paid off in the 61^st minute, when a charging run from Wright allowed a perfectly placed through ball to meet the feet of Kody Maude, whose well-timed run ensured he had a one-on-one chance against Port Kembla’s Brad Jardine which the Albion Park player managed to coolly convert and level the scores at 1-1.

With both sides now level, the intensity of the match rose as both sides pushed to try and locate a match-winning goal. Port Kembla would come close in the 76^th minute when a cross to Makoto Ishihara resulted in the forward just tapping his shot over the bar, while Albion Park would continue to break away in attack only to be shut down by great defensive work from the Port Kembla back-line.

The desire from both sides culminated in a tense final minute, where Albion Park’s Kody Maude found himself in space against Nobuaki Mochizuki, but Maude’s final pass to Chris Gomez was lacking and resulted in a turn-over going into the Port Kembla box. Port managed to quickly turn this around and flew up the pitch, putting Albion Park under a lot of defensive pressure, but the resulting shot from Jack Lombo after a defensive scramble flew wide of the Albion Park post and ensured that the match would end in a tight 1-1 draw.

With neither side able to take all three points, both teams will have to settle for continuing their unbeaten start to the season after two rounds and look to build on it going into the next round of their league campaigns. Port Kembla will next face a Corrimal Rangers side yet to make a solid start to the season, with the side losing out 5-2 to Cringila Lions on Friday. Meanwhile Albion Park will need to back up mid-week against Randwick City FC in the FFA Cup, before facing South Coast United on Sunday, who werre beaten 4-1 by Wollongong Olympic on Thursday.

Friday 30 March 2018 at Terry Reserve.

Albion Park White Eagles – 1 (Maude 61’)

Port Kembla FC – 1 (Lowcock 31’)

Albion Park White Eagles: Chris FUENTES RAMIREZ, Blake MCGINN, Kane WRIGHT, Luke DEBROT, Chris NATHANIEL, Robbie DELBANCO, Farres AOUN, Kody MAUDE, Nathan RALPH, Hikaru KAWASAKIYA, Chris GOMEZ

Subs: Rene VESCO, Cody WEHMEYER, Jacob HUFTON, Hayden SOPER (90’ KAWASAKIYA), Shayne ARDLE (84’ NATHANIEL)

Port Kembla: Brad JARDINE, Justin CARIO, Nobuaki MOCHIZUKI, Nathan BELSITO, Carlo STELLA, Ben ZUCCO, Cameron MORGAN, Naruyuki KATO, Makoto ISHIHARA, Joey LAVALLE, Sandy LOWCOCK

Subs: Brooklyn FRKOVIC (9’ STELLA), Miki AWAD (45’ LAVALLE), Jack LOMBO (70’ ZUCCO), Daniel FARINA, Bailey FLEMMING

Referee – Bobby MAZEVSKI

Assistant Referees – Gareth JENKINS and Jackson COCKS

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt

Photo courtesy of Kiah Hufton