By: ALEN DELIC (@AlenDelic)

Brunswick City has scored two goals in four minutes to steal a point from Eastern Lions at the death on Saturday afternoon at Dunstan Reserve.

The visitors took a one-goal lead into the break through Munyaradzi Nyadzayo before Juan Portillo equalised at the hour mark.

Two goals in two minutes to Nyadzayo and Philip Ajao put the visitors 3-1 up, before a screamer from James Neighbour brought the margin to one with five minutes to go, and an 89^th minute equaliser from Ahmet Turer leveled it up.

The visitors had an early chance courtesy of Nyadzayo down the left wing as he calmly took the ball past an onrushing Alex Hards and got his cross off, but no one could direct the ball into the open net.

Nyadzayo had a chance of his own just seconds later as a deep throw found him in the six-yard box, but the ball wouldn’t sit for him as Hards cleaned up the chance.

The chances kept coming for the Lions with Razuki the next to go to close via a strong run down the right. He managed to drive through three Brunswick defenders and get a shot away, but Hards saved well again.

Brunswick almost nabbed the first goal against the run of play after 25 minutes.

A lapse in concentration by the Lions’ defence left Turer with a chance from close range, but he could only direct his half-volley onto the roof of the net.

The goal finally came for Eastern Lions after 42 minutes, when Ajao’s strong run down the right wing opened up Nyadazyo in the centre, who calmly slotted it past Hards to give the visitors a 0-1 lead heading into the break.

The second half was all Brunswick’s as the hosts came out and took charge of the game.

Neighbour had two chances early into the second half but both his shots from distance were well saved by Andrew Lightfoot.

Urushe and Aden both went close soon after, pouncing on defensive errors, only for Lightfoot to once again foil the hosts.

The equaliser finally came for Brunswick after yet another mistake from Eastern Lions’ defence.

Portillo was given far too much time and space outside the box, and he calmly placed his chance into the bottom left corner of the net.

But a lapse in concentration from Brunswick let Eastern Lions retake the lead with a quickfire double.

The first came via a long throw that evaded everyone in the centre and fell to Nyadzayo’s feet at the far post, as he slotted it past a helpless Hards.

It took just another minute for Ajao to double the lead with a strong finish after a ball from the left to make it 1-3 for the visitors.

The quick double woke Brunswick up as the hosts once again took control of the game.

With just five minutes to go, captain Neighbour stepped up and scored a goal-of-the-season contender, driving a ball into the top right corner from 30 yards out.

Brunswick pushed on and another defensive error gifted Turer the equaliser.

A long, high ball floated over a botched offside trap and fell to Turer’s feet as the big striker squeezed his shot under Lightfoot to equalise.

Both sides looked desperate for a winner, but the referee blew for full time soon after.

 

MATCH DETAILS

Brunswick City 3 (Portillo 65’, Neighbour 85’, Turer 89’) drew with Eastern Lions 3 (Nyadzayo 42’, 70’, Ajao 71’) at Dunstan Reserve, Brunswick

Brunswick City: 34. Alex HARDS, 23. Cameron WILLIAMS, 52. Reha KURUL, 29. Lucas AOUN (7. Giorgio MAVRELLIS 81’), 60. Bol WUROK (26. Max CORNFORD 63’), 39. James NEIGHBOUR, 35. Anthony IANCHELLO, 10. Juan PORTILLO, 28. Fasile ADEN, 27. Abdiqafar URUSHE, 9. Ahmet TURER

Unused substitutes: 24. Joshua DIMONTE, 4. Yasin ABDULAHI, 15. Jake CREA

Yellow card(s): None

Red card(s): None

Eastern Lions 1. Andrew LIGHTFOOT, 3. Matthew PARRY, 4. Chris PAGE, 5 Thomas FALCONER, 6. Andrew WILLIAMS, 7. Ziggy RAZUKI, 8. Mitch BEAMISH (12. David McKESSY 67’), 9. Daniel RODRIGUES, 10. Phil AJAO, 11. Munyaradzi NYADZAYO, 16. Shaun KENNY

Unused substitutes: 21. Rob HAVERCROFT, , 13. Jarrah CLEAR, 2. Louis RAZUKI, 15. Yianni TOUMANIDIS

Yellow card(s): 7. Ziggy RAZUKI 79’

Red card(s): None