By David Manuca @davidmanuca

A late goal from Osagie Ederaro has seen Green Gully share the spoils with Port Melbourne in a 1-1 draw at JL Murpy Reserve on Friday night. 

Port Melbourne were the dominant side for a large majority of the game and would feel hard done by not to walk away with the three points.

The home side took the lead through Luka Prevelic’s strike on 58 minutes but failed to capitalise on their second-half dominance.

Despite a lack of chances Green Gully managed to snatch an equaliser late on, with Ederaro slotting past Port goalkeeper Stjepan Gal with seven minutes to go.

The game started brightly for the hosts as Lambros Honos got the first sight at goal, with two shots in 30 seconds that ended up blocked and straight at Gully goalkeeper Kieran Gonzalez.

Gully’s first opportunity came in the 24th minute when a great run by Jem Berkant ended in the midfielder getting a shot away on goal, but his effort was also blocked before it reached the goalkeeper.

Prelevic and Honos combined well three minutes later, with the latter having a crack towards goal but this time it was Rodrigo Vargas who got his body in the way. 

A quick Vargas free-kick on 38 minutes was cut out by Port Melbourne with Kamal Ibrahim being subsequently fed through on goal, but his chip went just wide of the goal to save the Green Gully defender’s blushes.

The side’s went in to the break locked at 0-0 but it was Port Melbourne who came out firing for the second 45.

A neat Nicky McNamara through ball played in Prelevic in the 48th minute and the forward’s low shot forced Gonzalez in to the first save of the game.

Ibrahim sent in a dangerous cross a few minutes later but both Prelevic and Honos slipped, with Honos finding his balance and shooting towards goal, but Gully full-back Thomas Deng was in the way. 

Port kept up the pressure and in the 57th minute, Zois Galanopoulos played a perfect pass to Phillip Riccobene at the back post but the midfielder skied his shot.

It would prove not to matter though, with Prelevic smashing home a shot after Gonzalez fisted a dangerous Ibrahim cross into his path. 

Prelevic had a glorious opportunity a minute later to double his side’s lead after being played onside by Deng but his effort was poor. 

Honos and Riccobene hit shots wide before Deng got Gully’s first shot on goal since the first half, although his effort was just as bad.

Despite dominating the half Port Melbourne were left to rue their missed chances when Ederaro slotted home an equaliser in the 83rd minute, with a chance that came out of absolutely nothing. 

Both sides were left with nothing left in the tank in the latter stages and the game finished one goal a piece. 

Port Melbourne coach Eric Vassiliadis was bitterly disappointed with the final result after his side dominated most of the game.

“We assessed it at half-time and made some changes in terms of our tactical approach and that paid dividends,” Vassiliadis said.

“But we knew in 90 minutes they were going to get 1 or 2 chances and we needed to maintain our concentration but we didn’t and they scored and that’s two points dropped.”

Green Gully coach Bob Stojcevski was upbeat about the result considering the disruptions his team has faced.

“It was a difficult game for us. We had a change right before kick-off with Mathew Sanders feeling a little bit dizzy. We lost Andy Vargas last week, he’s out for the rest of the year, we’ve lost Daniel Jones and they’ve been pretty big disruptions to the team,” Stojcevski said.

“To try and get back in to the game when we went behind was a real positive for us and we were buoyed by that in the change-room even though we weren’t in the game as much as we would have liked to have been.

“The real positive we can take out of this is what we finished strong and we have something to build on once we can get the game stabilised again.”

MATCH DETAILS
Port Melbourne 1 (Prelevic 58’) drew with Green Gully 1 (Ederaro 83’) at JL Murphy Reserve [HT: 0-0]. 

Port Melbourne XI: Stjepan GAL (GK), 6. Chris GROSSMAN, 23. Conor REDDAN, 18. Milos RIDESIC, 3. James RICCOBENE, 19. Nicky McNAMARA, 17. Phillip RICCOBENE, 26. Lambros HONOS, 8. Zois GALANOPOULOS (7. Amadu KOROMA 74’), 14. Kamal IBRAHIM (4. Timothy PATON 80’), 10. Luka PRELEVIC (15. Stefan NIGRO 87’)

Un-used substitutes: 1. Adam HREHORESIN (GK), 9. Alexander ANTONESCU

Yellow cards: Nil

Red cards: Nil

Green Gully XI: 1. Kieran GONZALEZ (GK), 5. Rodrigo VARGAS, 6. Stephen DOWNES, 7. Jeffrey FLEMING, 8. Jason HAYNE, 9. Brent FISHER, 11. Jem BERKANT (10. Ratip CILELI 65’), 16. Thomas DENG (22. Habib FLEIFEL 80’), 19. Peter DENG, 20. Osagie EDERARO, 21. Adam PETKO

Un-used substitutes: 23. Christopher AILAKIS (GK), 4. Mathew REID 

Yellow cards: Fisher 44’, Ederaro 90+2’

Red cards: Nil

Image credit: Graeme Furlong