By Brad Hutchings (@BradHutchings_)

Port Melbourne and Oakleigh Cannons have played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at JL Murphy Reserve on Friday evening.

Oakleigh was forced to come from behind on two occasions with Port Melbourne hitting the lead early in both halves.

Both sides had legitimate reasons to feel as though they deserved all three points with the momentum swinging numerous times during the 90 minutes.

Despite its impressive showing, Port Melbourne was left still searching for a maiden NPL win, but it produced arguably its best performance of the season last night.

Chris Grossman fired the home side into the lead in the 15th minute as he was left alone in the box from a free kick.

Oakleigh had enjoyed the better of the opening as it held a majority of possession. It was back on level terms in the 28th minute as Evan Christodoulou found space to get one past Port Melbourne ‘keeper Adam Hrehoresin to put a halt to the home side’s advantage.

Determined to recapture the lead, Port Melbourne pushed Oakleigh hard for the remainder of the half in search of its second goal.

Cannons defender Aron Wilford was on hand to stop a certain goal midway through the first half as he got in between a Sharks attacker and an open net from an inch-perfect Kamal Ibrahim cross.

The halftime score of 1-1 more than reflected the play with both sides enjoying dominate periods of play.

Oakleigh offered Port Melbourne a warning shot in the first minute of the second half, with Andreas Govas sending off a stinging shot that sailed well over the bar.

Despite the Cannons’ enterprising start to the second half, it was Port Melbourne which re-entered the lead in spectacular fashion on 58 minutes with Andrew Milicevic firing a long-range shot that managed to sneak past John Honos in the Oakleigh goal.

The Cannons didn’t have to wait long to get back into the game though, as Dean Piemonte restored parity just five minutes later.

From that moment on it was one-way traffic as Oakleigh threatened on more than one occasion to find the winner, but the Sharks managed to hold firm and deny Oakleigh all three points on the road.

For Port Melbourne manager Eric Vassiliadis, this was one that got away.

“Performance in patches was very, very good, and in terms of concentration we let ourselves down. Plenty to work on. At no point did I feel we were outplayed at all,” Vassiliadis said.

“We are doing something right. There is some concentration issues there, when you got a young team you have to expect that. I think we got more upside than downside for sure.”

Despite being disappointed his side didn’t take all three points, Oakleigh manager Miron Bleiberg was happy to take one point out of the match.

“I’m obviously not happy (with the draw) but I think it’s a fair result. We wanted very much to win and to keep the momentum. I can’t say that Port Melbourne doesn’t deserve a point. The fact that they were leading twice, credit to our boys that we equalised,” Bleiberg said.

“Both coaches should be happy with a point.”

Port Melbourne’s search for its first win of the season will take it to Shepparton as it takes on

Goulburn Valley Suns in Round 4, while Oakleigh returns home on Friday night as it takes on Green Gully in Round 4’s broadcast match.

Match Details

Port Melbourne 2 (Grossman 15’, Milicevic 59’) drew Oakleigh Cannons (Christodoulou 28’, Piemonte 62’) at JL Murphy Reserve (HT: 1-1)

Port Melbourne; Adam Hrehoresin(GK), Chriss Grossman(C), Amadu Koroma, James Riccobene, John Lazaridis (Phil Riccobene 66’), Nick Tzoulis (Alessandro Venezia 80’), Andrew Milicevic, Luka Prelevic, Lambros Honos(Nick Krousouratis 71’), Kamal Ibrahim, Kevin Braniff

Unused Subs; Joshua Kweifio-Okai, Alexander Connell

Yellow Cards : James Riccobene (26’), Phil Riccobene (75’)

Oakleigh Cannons; John Honos(GK), Aron Wilford, Dominic D’Angelo, Bonel Obradovic, Jordan Lowdon, Thomas Lakic (Ian Kamau 67’), Evan Christodoulou (c), Dean Piemonte (Nathaniel Foster 72’),  Andreas Govas (Veton Korcari 67’), Dusan Bosnjak, Goran Zoric

Unused Subs; Harry Raworth, George Krommidas

Yellow Card: None

Red Card: None