The Blueys made the trip South to Terry Reserve for an interesting fixture - the Blueys were sitting fourth on the ladder amidst the title contenders, having played more games than their FFA-Cup-tied rivals - but are a club continuing to feel the pinch of a depleted squad courtesy of a series of injuries to first graders - Darren Stone, Jared Fish, Matthew Mazevski, Daniel Chapman, Jake Morlando all adding to the season-long absence of key man Bryce Dolinscak.

Meanwhile, a stuttering start to their title retention saw Albion Park lingering in eighth spot with only a solitary game in hand. Having finally been knocked out of the national competition, one may have expected a refreshed outlook on the IPL by the defending champions.

It seemed much the opposite though - whilst they were troubling the Tarrawanna defence all afternoon, a resolute showing by the Blueys backline and goalkeeper Adam Rodriguez held a fairly lifeless tie to the deadlock at which it began.

Mitch Del Turco was the main threat up front for the hosts - his movement and pace often forcing a mad scramble from the visiting defence - and Shohei Okuno was pulling strings from in behind as usual, however once the Tarrawanna defence figured out the game-plan it was relatively smooth sailing.

It was Tarrawanna who proved the more exciting going forward - nearly opening the scoring inside 10 minutes. Woo Oh found the run of Sangyu Park on the right wing, who in turn rounded White Eagles' keeper Bryce Daenell and rolling the ball in, however the offside flag was raised and play called back.

It was again Park who nearly capitalised on an Albion Park mistake - a terrible pass across the backline gifted Rick Goodchild possession, playing it out wide right to Park who flashed a shot across the face of goal.

The Tarrawanna defence was not free from errors either - first allowing Chris Nathaniel to overlap on the right flank and put in an inch-perfect cross which drew a fumble from Rodriguez, who was able to recover and dive on the ball just as Yosume Tashiro arrived for the scraps.

Similarly on the other side, Del Turco overlapped on the left and dribbled at goal, forcing Matthew Naylor into a key sliding tackle to prevent the shot from close range.

Park was harassing the Albion Park defence continually, receiving a cross-field ball from Goodchild, striking first at Daenell and curling the rebound around the gloveman but off the upright with his lovely effort denied by the smallest of margins.

Just before the interval, Park found Samuel Rose in behind the Albion Park defence, curling his shot around Daenell and into the top corner only for the offside flag to deny Tarrawanna a second time.

Albion Park started the second half stronger, within minutes of resumption, Tashiro rounding two on the by-line and having his shot blocked by Naylor, before Kazuma Nagaishi had a nicely curled shot from range cleared by Samual Chapple.

It was Tarrawanna looking the better going forward though, with the best chance of the game going awry just after the hour mark. A deflected shot bobbled high into the air, Caleb Grace finding himself 6 yards out with a free ball, only to put his shot straight at Daenell from close range.

Park tried to make the difference himself - beating two with some neat skill on the touchline, crossing into a dangerous area, with Daenell punching the ball into the pack of players, a lucky deflection seeing it loop over the crossbar.

For the last 15 minutes, Albion Park began to find some rhythm going forward, forcing Tarrawanna deep into their own box, defending for the draw.

Robbie Delbanco glanced a header just wide at the far post from a corner - another corner floated just over the head of Lee Gilroy and the unsuspecting Vaughan Paterson was unable to react in time to get a shot off - Gilroy heading over an Okuno cross - and a Peter Prandalos cross flying across the face of goal untouched and out.

Tarrawanna may have had to play the last quarter of the match with often 9 or 10 men behind the ball, but they held firm at the back and held Albion Park scoreless for only the third time this season. The draw was a fair result given the lack of quality chances produced by either side, as Tarrawanna may have left disappointed not to have jagged a goal and walk away with the three points as they did at home against Wollongong Olympic.

 

Saturday May 27th - Terry Reserve

Albion Park White Eagles 0

Tarrawanna Blueys 0

 

Referee - A. Naylor

Assistants - C. Blanch, M. Francis

 

Albion Park White Eagles - Daenell, Nathaniel, Every, Allport, Prandalos, Del Banco, Del Turco (Fielding 75'), Paterson, Tashiro (Gilroy 63'), Okuno, Kawasakira

Subs - Gilroy, Fielding, Debrot, Soper, Hufton

Tarrawanna Blueys - Rodriguez, Carrigan, Naylor, S. Chapple, Fryday, Oh, Park (van Kempen 90'), Goodchild, J. Chapple, Rose (Grace 62'), Nagaishi

Subs - Grace, Brown, Friedrich, van Kempen, Richards

 

Report by David Atherton - @daveatho5

Photos courtesy of Kiah Hufton