By Andrew Bishara (@_andrewb21)

Box Hill United and Springvale White Eagles have played out a rough 1-1 draw at Wembley Park on Saturday afternoon.

The goals came in the first half when United took an early lead through captain Michael Godfrey before the Eagles levelled through Hernan De Rito.

The hosts got off to the decent start and took the lead five minutes in when Godfrey got on the end of a Caleb Ludlow free kick to header in a bullet.

Yet the visitors slowly sprang into action and struck a leveller 15 minutes later through a sweet team move.

Kelesto Mthembu broke down the wing, before cutting back a pass to De Rito who weaved around the box before curling an outside-boot shot that bounce off the post and went in.

United almost went back ahead when Godfrey saw his header from a corner cleared off the line.

The Eagles began to control the match and De Rito had another chance but United goalkeeper Alex Connell collected his powerful drive.

United midfielder Chris Page had the first chance of the second period when he unleashed an 18-yard drive, but it swerved past the post. 

De Rito then broke the offside trap, much to the protest of the United team and went one-on-one with Connell from a tight angle. But the custodian pushed over the blasting strike.

Yet the goalkeeper almost cost his side a goal went he misjudged a cross and it fell to Springvale's Ricardo Texeira who had a clear header at goal.

But thankfully Page was there to clear the chance and keep his side in it.

The game became congested in the midfield as both teams looked to stifle their opponents, and as a result the game became sloppy.

De Rito kept proving a problem for United and had a chance in injury time but his shot went well wide. 

Both teams thought they won when each managed to score deep into injury time, but both goals were chalked off as offside as the game finished one-all. 

 

Match details:

Box Hill United 1 (Michael Godfrey 5’) drew with Springvale White Eagles 1 (Herivan De Rito 20’) at Wembley Park

Box Hill United: 1. Alex CONNELL, 2. Nikola SURDOSKI, 25. Michael GODFREY, 21. Travis CHALK-HATTON, 30. Ollie PATERNO, 15. Chris PAGE, 24. Shaun PETERSON (12. Imran SANKOH 57’), 8. Caleb LUDLOW, 23. Dillon YAKUDI (20. Daylan McDonald 81’), 9. Michael Kariuki, 11. Sebastian BARRERO.

Unused Subs: 35. Christian PAVLIDIS, 6. Luca PRESUTTI, 26. Chris GFILS

Yellow Cards: GODFREY 43’

 

Springvale White Eagles: 1. Nebojsa VUJIC, 2, Jordan BELLERINI, 4. Simo JOVANOVIC, 3. Vedran TOMIC, 7. Keletso MTHEMBU, 6. Slavisa SARIC, 8. Hernan DE RITO, 5. Ryan BARBARE (9.Brandon JANSZ 91’), 10. Stojan MILOJEVIC (15. Milan JOVANOVIC 56’), 11. Ricardo TEIXEIRA (28. Edmon BENJAMIN 77’), 17. Sebastian LECAROS

Unused Subs: 30. Jeremy SANDOVAL, 13. Nikola NIKOLIC

Yellow Cards: JOVANOVIC 60’, TOMIC 62’