By ANDREW BISHARA (@_AndrewBishara)

Eastern Lions and Moreland Zebras have played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Gardiners Reserve on Saturday.

The Zebras twice took the lead through James Papadimitriou and Danny Charalambous, but were pegged back by strikes from Philip Ajao and Munyaradzi Nyadzayo.

The visitors came out of the blocks early and had the first chance when during a goalmouth scramble Charalambous struck a powerful ball that smashed against the post.

Joel Nikolic had a golden chance when he beat the offside trap and rounded Lions goalkeeper Andrew Lightfoot, but from his tight angle couldn't put the ball into the open net.

The breakthrough came when a fantastic long ball from Joshua McMonagle-Ihasz found the on-running Papadimitriou as he squeezed past the offside.

Winger Papadimitriou collected the ball with a lovely first touch before dinking it over Lightfoot.

The goal seemed to wake the hosts up and it pressed forward with more intent.

It scored with its first real attempt when Ajao collected the ball and dodged his way through the defence before firing in a low shot to make it one-apiece.

The second half started the same with Charalambous seeing his low free kick go around the wall and just past the post.

The striker then saw his blistering shot from the edge of the box punched away by Lightfoot.

It was then Ajao's turn when he went on one his powerful runs and blasted a shot, but Zebras goalkeeper Nikola Kostadinovski parried it away.

However, the save rebounded to Louis Razuki, but from such a tight angle he could only blast the ball over the goals.

The winner looked like it came when Charalambous collected the ball on the edge of the box, steadied himself before rocketing a shot right into the top corner.

But the drama wasn't over, when with five minutes left, Nyadzayo found space on the edge of the box and blasted an absolute stunner right into the top corner to see the Lions snatch a point.

 

Eastern Lions 2 (Phillip Ajao 37’, Munyaradzi Nyadzayo 85’) drew Moreland Zebras 2 (James Papadimitriou 24’, Danny Charalambous 76’)

 

Eastern Lions FC: 1. Andrew LIGHTFOOT, 3. Matthew PARRY (14. Jordan HORN 88’), 5 Thomas FALCONER, 6. Andrew WILLIAMS, 9. Daniel RODRIGUES (2. Louis RAZUKI 32’), 4. Chris PAGE, 16. Shaun KENNY, 10. Phil AJAO, 11. Munyaradzi NYADZAYO, 12. David McKESSY (15. Yianni TOUMANIDIS 61’), 7. Ziggy RAZUKI

Unused Subs: 8. Mitch BEAMISH, 21. Rob HAVERCROFT

Yellow Cards: KENNY 61’

Red Cards: Nil.

 

Moreland Zebras: 1. Nikola KOSTADINOVSKI, 2. Simon SYMEOY, 4. Steve MARTIN, 5. Daniel PETROV, 6. Adam CENTOFANTI, 8. Joshua MCMONAGLE-IHASZ, 10. Danny CHARALAMBOUS, 14. James PAPADIMITRIOU, 9. Joel NIKOLIC (11. Bale MICOVSKI 80’), 12. Bradley MURRAY (16. Mile MEDJEDEVIC 46’), 19. James KELLY

Unused Subs: 21. Alex STOJANOVSKI, 13. Lucas RUFFINO, 17. Chris TRANTAFILOPOULOS

Yellow Cards: MARTIN 24’

Red Cards:None