White City and MetroStars played out a three all draw in a chaotic opening to Round 7 of the Playstation 4 National Premier League South Australia.

White City’s Nikola Mileusnic and Chahine Noujaim were both shown second yellows late in the second half which sent the home side down to nine men, while Coach Sergio Melta was sent to the stands early in the first half.

White City’s Miki Petkovic said the side was happy with their performance and the character shown to lead for periods of the game, despite the numerical disadvantage.

“It was a good performance all round by the boys, we kept possession well and were good on the transition.

“The boys showed a lot of character, but more importantly showed that we can match it with teams like Metro even with nine men.

“It gives the group a lot of belief in our own ability.”

Metro took the lead early in the first half through a Scott Tunbridge penalty, after he appeared to have collided with a trailing elbow from Milos Tosic.

Tosic ended up hitting the showers early as he looked to come off worse for wear in the collision.

The man who replaced him, Joseph Zawko, pegged one back for the home side to even up the scores in the 35^th minute. White City hit Metro on the counter attack through Mileusnic and Chad Bugeja, who sent Zawko through for an easy finish.

Bugeja was rewarded for his earlier efforts in the 42^nd minute, as he headed home an inch perfect cross from Petkovic to give the home side a 2-1 lead at the half time interval.

The visitors hit the ground running at the start of the second half, which culminated in Tunbridge’s second for the game. Mathew Deegan worked his way to the by-line and with a deft chip, found Tunbridge at the near post who easily headed home to tie the scores up at two all.

Chahine Noujaim was given his marching orders shortly after, with a rash challenge in the 52^nd minute earning him a second yellow.

Miki Petkovic gave the lead back to White City in 75^th minute after a tidy through ball was played to his feet by Mileusnic, who then fired a shot over the head of Metro’s goalkeeper.

The home side were reduced to ten men following a bizzare passage of play at a throw in, which saw Mileusnic received his second yellow of the game.

The numbers game proved to be costly for White City as Perry Mitris came to the rescue for the visitors in the dying seconds of regulation time to level the scores at three apiece.

White City now travel to Port Adelaide to take on the Pirates in Round 8, while MetroStars travel down south as they face South Adelaide.

Article by Brendan Simpkins