By Lucas Pavlidis (@LucasPavlidis)

St Albans Saints has fought hard to win a share of the points in a 1-1 draw against FC Bulleen Lions at David Barro Stadium on Monday night.

Bulleen struck first via in-form midfielder Alex Dao in the first half, before Barry Devlin restored parity in the 71st minute to keep the Saints’ promotion hopes alive.

Both teams struggled to earn a large chunk of early possession, but it was St Albans doing the early attacking with Nicholas Cullen almost finding Sean McIlroy inside the box for an early chance within five minutes of the game.

St Albans sat deep in the first period and allowed Bulleen to dominate possession, but the Saints frustrated the home side by defending resolutely and stemming the flow of an otherwise dynamic attack.

Bulleen’s Gianni De Nittis worked hard to force an opening in a strong St Albans backline, improvising with a well-timed lofted through-ball for Dao, who found himself marginally offside.

The counter-attack was the route to goal for St Albans, which had the best chance of the half prior to the opening goal.

Yusuf Yusuf found himself alone on the edge of the six-yard box, after a looping ball had been played back into the area and the midfielder managed to stay onside. His resulting effort flew over the bar - a looping header from right in front of goals not the desired outcome.

Bulleen capitalised on St Albans’ missed chance through the head of Dao.

Some neat interplay from Joey Katebian and Takanori Nishimoto found the midfielder at the front post, whose glancing header found the back of the net to make it 1-0.

The passage of play was the best of the half from either side, with the goal coming amid an opening period of scrappy football.

Nishimoto almost had a chance to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his touch let him down as his side finally settled and started to create chances late in the half.

A slow-starting second half saw but few chances on target from either side.

Kristian Sarkies let fly with an audacious volleyed attempt from just inside Bulleen’s defensive half, while St Albans continued to play on the counter-attack and look for gaps in the Bulleen back four.

Sarkies came close with his next effort on goal, after he was found on the edge of the box by goalscorer Dao.

His shot rifled past the top right-hand corner as it came agonisingly close from outside the box.

Bulleen would ultimately rue its missed chances though as St Albans went in search of its deserved equaliser.

Another quick counter-attack saw Ross Harvey fouled on the edge of the 18-yard box, with the resulting free-kick met at the back post by an unmarked Devlin.

The centre-back made no mistake with his head, with Bulleen unable to clear the ball off the line as it nestled into the back of the net.

Chances fell for both sides in the remaining minutes of the match, with either side unable to make a difference in a game that was deserving of its 1-1 scoreline.

St Albans manager Toby Paterson believed his side could have snatched the three points at the end of a fairly balanced game of football.

“I think we could have won it at the end. We had a couple of chances, we just couldn’t get on the end of deliveries,” Paterson said.

“The game could have gone either way. Bulleen are a good technical football side that like to knock the ball around. They went 1-0 up and we showed great character to come back in the second half.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t get all three points, it feels like a defeat, but a point is better than none.

“Any points you get are crucial now because it’s so tight with five or so teams.”

Bulleen goalscorer Dao was also disappointed his side couldn’t capitalise on its chances.

“I was happy with my performance, we didn’t get over the line, I’m disappointed,” Dao said.

“I thought we played well so hopefully we can take this into our next game. I think we sort of slowed down in the second half. First half we played really well, just in the second half we didn’t get over the line.”

MATCH DETAILS

FC Bulleen Lions 1 (Dao 31’) drew with St Albans Saints 1 (Devlin 71’) at David Barro Stadium [HT: 1-0]

FC Bulleen Lions: 44. Gian TAPIA, 2. Dean ROMAS, 4. Sam BORGHESI, 20. Robert ARMELLINI, 6. Alex DAO, 8. Matteo BALLAN, 10. Takanori NISHIMOTO (13. Dean LORENZI 83’), 11. Gianni DE NITTIS (19. Joshua SABIDUSSI 81’), 12. Matt DIMECH, 21. Kristian SARKIES, 33. Joseph KATEBIAN

Unused Subs: 9. Bardhi HYSOLI, 43. Fraser MACLAREN, 5. Lewis WADDELL

Yellow Cards: None

Red Cards: None

St Albans Saints: 1. Stuart WEBSTER, 17. Adam NAKIC, 4. Barry DEVLIN, 5. Felix ROSMAN, 14. Christopher ROSS, 2. Ryan MCGUFFIE, 15. Konrad DOBRASZIEWICZ (10. Brodie PATERSON 56’), 11. Yusuf YUSUF (18. Teddros YABIO 56’), 8. Ross HARVEY, 9. Sean MCILROY, 13. Nicholas CULLEN

Unused Subs: 12. Chol NYOK, 3. Georgi NICESKI, 24. Tonio BARESIC

Yellow Cards: McIlroy 71’

Red Cards: None