By Julian Buckeridge (@MrJulianB)

Ten-man Kingston City produced a devastating injury-time comeback to draw 2-2 with Box Hill United at The Grange Reserve on Monday night.

A Rinor Muriqi scorcher and George Stavridis own goal either side of Arthur Papadopoulous’ sending off handed Box Hill the ascendancy, before two late goals from Stavridis and James Karvelis saw Kingston rescue a point.

With Kingston City coming into the match on the back of a strong win over Dandenong City, it was the hosts that had an early sight on goal when Velibor Metrovic cut to the byline and forced a low block from Alexander Pavlidis.

Box Hill responded and Kenny Athiu almost opened the scoring in the 10th minute when his first-time effort was kept out by a tremendous save from George Malliaras, who somehow tipped the ball onto the post.

The Kingston ‘keeper was again at the centre of play five minutes later when he was caught dallying on the ball by Athiu, but Malliaras gratefully watched the ball roll harmlessly wide.

The hosts then went on the front foot, and Papadopoulos looked to have found the opener when he slid a ball past Pavlidis, only for a Box Hill defender to clear before it crossed the line.

It proved significant as the visitors found the lead in the 37th minute through Muriqi’s beautiful strike from distance.

United had their tails up and almost had a second on the stroke of halftime when Athiu dribbled from halfway to the edge of the area, only for his resulting goal-bound effort to be denied by Malliaras’ expert save.

The hosts looked to regroup at the break but were dealt a massive blow when Papadopoulos was given his marching orders with a harsh second yellow card in the 55th minute.

City coach Nick Tolios restructured his side by bringing on Max Etheridge and Gino Defeo, and it almost paid immediate dividends when a Kingston corner picked out Etheridge, yet the substitute could only direct his header straight at Pavlidis.

Box Hill still looked dangerous on the break, however, and after a scramble in the box saw both Chris Irwin and Athiu unable to convert, the visitors finally had a two-goal advantage in the 79th minute when Stavridis poked the ball into his own net with Athiu lurking.

But as the game moved into injury time, Kingston found a lifeline when Stavridis met a Defeo free-kick to make it 2-1. Two minutes later and the comeback was complete as Karvelis converted from the final corner kick.

Kingston City coach Nick Tolios was full of praise for captain Nick Stamatiou after the game.

“I think his work ethic –trying to get the boys up... If I had another ten of those guys on the park today with his work ethic, I think it would have been a lot closer game – though I don’t think you can get much closer than a 2-2 draw,” Tolios said.

Box Hill United manager Arthur Georgiou was disappointed by the result, but not his side’s performance.

“Very proud of the way we played for 80 to 85 minutes. The boys stuck to the Box Hill philosophy and they played,” Georgiou said.

“Credit to them [Kingston]. They worked hard and they showed character beyond what you would generally expect at these levels, so absolute credit to them.”

MATCH DETAILS

Kingston City 2 (Stavridis 90’, Karvelis 90+3’) drew with Box Hill United 2 (Muriqi 37’, Stavridis OG 79’) at The Grange Reserve [HT: 0-1]

Kingston City: 3. Stacy TSALKOS (9. Max ETHERIDGE 57’), 4. James KARVELIS, 5. Kemal CURAN, 7. Velibor MITROVIC, 10. John MACLEAN (15. Gino DEFEO 57’), 11. George STAVRIDIS, 13. George MALLIARAS (GK), 14. Arthur PAPADOPOULOS, 16. Nick STAMATIOU, 17. Deniz SABANOVSKI, 19. Andrew DOIG

Unused Subs: 1. Sermin SADIKOVSKI (GK), 8. Anthony STAVRIDIS, 12. Stefan SOLER

Yellow Cards: 14. Arthur PAPADOPOULOS (25’, 55’), 17. Deniz SABANOVSKI (47’), 11. George STAVRIDIS (52’), 10. John MACLEAN (54’), 9. Max ETHERIDGE (82’)
Red Cards: 14. Arthur PAPADOPOULOS (55’)

Box Hill United: 4. Chris IRWIN, 8. Samuel CATHERINE (25. Sam SHEPHERD 75’), 10. Rinor MURIQI, 11. Matt WATERS, 12. Adrian DEL MONACO, 14. Kenny ATHIU (31. Carl O'KEEFE 89’), 18. Anthony RAMZY (5. Alex SCHROEN 49’), 20. Josh BUSCH, 21. Alexander PAVLIDIS (GK), 22. Nick KOKOLAKIS, 23. Josh VALADON

Unused Subs: 7. Imran SAKIKOH, 1. Zac DEMETRI

Yellow Cards: 4. Chris IRWIN (26’)

Red Cards: None

Image credit: The Sporting Wall