A dull first half was balanced out by a frenetic second, which had two red cards, an almost comedic goal and a wonder strike as Inglewood and Armadale drew 1-1 at Intiga Stadium yesterday.

Armadale took the lead in comical style as a miscommunication between Inglewood goalkeeper Luke Martino and defender Shane Pickering allowed Armadale’s Faustinho Machochi to walk the ball into an unguarded net.

But just nine minutes from the end of the 90, a wonderful Greg Sharland free-kick earned Inglewood a point.

Inglewood coach Graham Normanton was frustrated by his team’s performance.

“We’ve thrown a lot of points away this year,” he said. “We should’ve won the game; we were comfortably the better side. A screw up at the back cost us the game, we missed simple chances and you can’t do that.

“We all have a go at defenders for making mistakes at the back but then you look at the chances we missed and the forwards have got to stand up and take responsibility. We missed a bag full today and we should’ve really won the game.”

In the first half, Inglewood winger David Sesay was guilty of missing one of those chances as he found himself with time and space 5m out but missed the ball during an attempt to score.

Striker Ryan Clarke also found himself in on Armadale goalkeeper Mathew Gould several times, only to be denied.

Inglewood equalised after Andrija Jukic was pulled down on the edge of the box, allowing skipper Sharland to fire home a brilliant free kick and set up a grand stand finish.

The last 10 minutes were substantially harder for Armadale as Billy Quinncroft and Alex Solomons were sent off after scuffles with Inglewood players.

Armadale’s assistant coach Saul Contera was pleased with the result considering the loss of two players.

“It would’ve been nice to hold on to the lead but we made a silly error and gave away a free-kick on the edge of the box and Greg Sharland scored a great goal,” he said.

“After that, we worked hard until the end and we definitely deserved a point.”

The result leaves Inglewood with a major uphill battle to earn a finals berth.

“We’re almost out of it,” Normanton said.

“There’s only 18 points left and we we’re 12 points out of the four before we started today, so it’s almost impossible really - something’s got to go our way for us to get there.”

Contera said Armadale’s focus was on developing players over the remaining games.

“I don’t think we’re worried about points at all,” he said. “I think this year means pretty much nothing in terms of the league ladder because there’s no relegation. There’s not really anything to play for. It’s just about developing the young side that we have.”

Inglewood United 1 (Sharland 81’)
Armadale 1 (Machochi 54’)
Saturday 5th July 2014
Intiga Stadium
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Referee: Trent Fleskens
Assistant referees: S. Blacker, C. Irvine
Attendance: 100 Approx.

Inglewood United: 1. Luke MARTINO, 4. Shane PICKERING, 6. Ryan FRANCIS, 8. David PERICH, 9. Ryan CLARKE, 10. Greg SHARLAND, 11. David SESAY, 14. Jarrod McNALLY, 16. Sean BROWNE (20. Teeboy KAMARA 60’), 18. Jason COLLI (15. Abdul SESAY 70’), 23. Andrija JUKIC
Substitutes not used: 22. Mitchell PAPAS, 12. Dario PAVIC, 21. Josh DeMARTE
Yellow cards: Browne 15’
Red cards: nil

Armadale: 20. Mathew GOULD, 2. Jackson BEALES (6. Lyon VARNEY 66’), 4. Billy QUINCROFT, 5. Nathan COSTELLO, 7. Faustinho MACHOCHI (9. Raveshan KUPPUSAMY 90’), 8. Josh KUSER, 11. Dannie RICHMANN, 12. Alex SOLOMONS, 13. Sam LOVELESS, 14. Mitch CASTRILLI, 17. Alex CLARKE (10. James ATKINS 81’)
Substitutes not used: 3. Luke BOGONI, 1. Jordan HOWELL
Yellow cards: Castrilli 80’, Atkins 84’, Gould 90’
Red cards: Quincroft 84’, Solomons 87’