Albion Park White Eagles have held onto second place in the Illawarra Mercury Premier League for another round, with the side drawing 1-1 with fellow title-challengers Corrimal Rangers on Sunday afternoon at Terry Reserve. The only goals of the fixture came within the opening five minutes, with a stunning Van Elia strike cancelled out by a Cameron Morgan goal shortly afterwards, ensuring neither side could take full advantage of the chance to make second place their own.

A spectacle could have been expected between the two sides after the circumstances of their last encounter – where Albion Park found two goals in the final minutes to pick up a 5-4 win over Corrimal despite being three goals down after 30 minutes – and early expectations appeared to be met after only three minutes, with the visitors taking the lead in stunning fashion.

Corrimal’s Van Elia received the ball on the edge of the Albion Park box and after giving himself some space from the challenging Albion Park backline, fired a curling shot that did just enough in the windy conditions to sneak past a leaping Brad Jardine and bury itself into the top-right corner – kickstarting the match and giving the Rangers an early lead.

However, Corrimal’s lead lasted an entirety of two minutes as Albion Park stormed back into the match with a goal of their own after a quick free-kick from Naomichi Araki in the middle of the field found Cameron Morgan behind the Rangers defensive line. Morgan – who nabbed a hat-trick in the White Eagles’ last match against Corrimal back in April – made no mistake of the chance, sliding his shot along the ground past Nic Loe and into the bottom-left corner to level the scores.

Despite an exciting start to the match, neither side was able to fire their way into the lead during the rest of the opening half as both sides attempted to outpace the opposition’s backline. The Rangers had a good chance to take the lead in the 22^nd minute after a Matthew Galanti cross from the right hand side of the field forced the White Eagles defence to scramble the ball loose to a waiting Van Elia near the far post, but Elia was unable to add to his afternoon’s tally – powering his shot over the crossbar.

Albion Park had a solid chance of their own four minutes later with a Hristijan Tanoski free-kick in front of goal, but the former Hakoah Sydney City East forward was unable to find the back of the net, his effort denied by a strong catch from Corrimal gloveman Nic Loe.

The Rangers had a golden chance to take the lead just before the half-time break after a through ball down the right flank from Lukas Stergiou found Van Elia in the Albion Park box. Elia was able to round an oncoming Brad Jardine but his shot failed to have enough power on it to restore Corrimal’s lead, with Elia’s shot swept up by Kyle Senior in the goalmouth.

With both sides seeking a match-winning goal in the second period, it was Corrimal who had the first real chance of the second half in the 47^th minute, with a Van Elia cross from the left flank finding Tomoki Wada inside the Albion Park box. However, Wada was unable to direct his first-time volley into the back of the net, instead thundering his shot over the crossbar.

Albion Park almost made the most of the end-to-end play that enveloped the majority of the second half in the 72^nd minute after a quick Cameron Morgan cross from the right flank found Cody Waller on the edge of the box. Waller was able to hold off the Albion Park defence with a smart turn before firing an effort at goal, but his effort left much to be desired – sailing over the crossbar and out of play.

The White Eagles had a late chance to nab all three points in the 89^th minute after a smart ball from substitute Valentino Merxhushi found Cody Waller in the box. Waller managed to show great skill to round a rushing Nic Loe, but he was unable to write his name into the headlines, taking just a second too long before firing a shot into the arms of a recovering Loe – ensuring neither side secured what could have proven to be a huge three points in the title race.

The result means no change is made to the second-place position on the ladder, with Albion Park maintaining their one-point advantage over third-placed Corrimal. Both sides will attempt to close the gap between themselves and league leaders Wollongong Olympic next round, with the White Eagles travelling to Ocean Park on Saturday to take on a Woonona side who stormed back to winning ways on Saturday in a 5-0 thrashing of Coniston and Corrimal travelling to Crehan Park on Sunday to take on a Cringila team who fell 1-0 to Bulli on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday 14 July 2019 at Terry Reserve, Albion Park

Albion Park White Eagles – 1 (Morgan 5’)

Corrimal Rangers FC – 1 (Elia 3’)

Albion Park White Eagles: Brad JARDINE, Blake MCGINN, Shannon FIELDING, Kyle SENIOR, Chris NATHANIEL, Cody WALLER, Robert DELBANCO, Naomichi ARAKI, Joel BEATTIE, Hristijan TANOSKI, Cameron MORGAN

Subs: Valentino MERXHUSHI (BEATTIE 66’), Eiki FUKUSHIGE (WALLER 90’), Yuki UNO (TANOSKI 84’), Cody WEHMEYER, Jacob HUFTON

Corrimal Rangers FC: Nic LOE, Dean PENDER, Jason ZUFIC, Alvin CECCOLI, Banri KANAIZUMI, Matthew GALANTI, Lukas STERGIOU, Tomoki WADA, Paul GUIDO, Van ELIA, Timothy WYLIE

Subs: Ben ZUCCO (PENDER 54’), Sam MATTHEWS (GALANTI 66’), Daniel CARRENO, Yanni MAVRIKIS

Referee – Nicholas RYAN

Assistant Referees – Brodie MERCHANT and Josh SPAIN

Report by Cal Behrendt, on Twitter @CalBehrendt
Photo courtesy of Kiah Hufton