By Matthew Conversano

 

A 10-man Ballarat Red Devils have taken a point from Moreland Zebras on Saturday afternoon at CB Smith Reserve.

Though Zebras looked to have the upper hand for most of the match, they failed to convert their dominance into goals.

A fairly entertaining first half saw several decent chances from both sides, beginning with Moreland’s Josh McMonagle-Ihasz’s half volley from long range which fizzed wide just after 13 minutes.

10 minutes later it was Moreland again on the attack as James Papadimitriou skipped past the Ballarat defence but sent his shot wide of the left post.

Ballarat’s first decent chance of the afternoon arrived just after 26 minutes through Michael Trigger whose dipping shot looked dangerous but was well covered by Moreland custodian Nikola Kostadinovski.

Arguably the best chance of the half fell to Moreland on the 36th minute when a Danny Charalambous corner found the charging run of centre half Steve Martin whose half volley forced a brilliant save from Ballarat keeper Aaron Romein, tipping the ball over the bar.

The major talking point of the match however was the sending off in the final minute of the first half when a late, studs up challenge from Shaun Romein left referee Alejandro Azcurra with no other choice but to give the Ballarat captain his marching orders.

The second half was a fairly scrappy affair as Ballarat looked to nullify every attack that came their way.

Moreland did however create a few chances to take the lead including a sweetly struck volley on 56 minutes from McMonagle-Ihasz which once again was saved by Romein.

If Ballarat needed anymore proof that their custodian was in top form, they got it on 67 minutes as a magnificent double save from Romein saw him deny a blistering strike from Charalambous followed by the smothering of a close range volley from Bale Micovski to keep the Red Devils in the contest.

After 75 minutes of play, Romein was once again influential in maintaining the deadlock as a Simon Symeoy cross picked out Charalambous whose strike was foiled by the Ballarat number 1.

A stubborn second half defensive performance topped of by a brilliant individual goalkeeping performance was enough for Ballarat to keep Moreland at bay and pick up a well earned point.

 

MATCH DETAILS

Moreland Zebras 0 drew with Ballarat Red Devils 0 at CB Smith Reserve, Fawkner

 

Moreland Zebras: 1. Nikola Kostadinovski, 2. Simon Symeoy, 4. Steve Martin, 5. Daniel Petrov, 6. Adam Centofanti, 8. Joshua McMonagle-Ihasz, 10. Danny Charalambous, 11. Bale Micovski (20. Baggio Yousif 75’), 14. James Papadimitriou, 16. Mile Medjedovic, 22. Ryan Murray (18. Joshua Berrios 68’).

Unused Subs: 21. Aleksandar Stojanovski, 17. Christopher Triantafilopolous, 3. Johnny Crivelli

Yellow Cards: Simon Symeoy 40’, Joshua McMongale-Ihasz 86’, Daniel Petrov 90+5’

Red Cards: Nil

 

Ballarat Red Devils: 1. Aaron Romein, 14. Daniel Firth, 4. David King, 21. Charles King, 23. Daniel Tinker, 8. Joshua Romein, 17. Shaun Romein, 11. Nelson Salvatore (20. James King 72’) 10. Michael Trigger (28. Callum Ferguson 90’), 22. Patrick Karras, 31. Simon Murphy (15. Dominic Swinton 60’)  

Unused subs: 40. Jason Hill, 13. Declan Picken

Yellow Cards: Michael Trigger 78’, Aaron Romein 90’, Charles King 90+6’

Red Cards: Shaun Romein 45’