Port Kembla put a dent in Bulli's Premiership aspirations when they held the second placed team to a two-two draw in an exciting encounter at home on Saturday.

Going into the game, Port Kembla knew that picking up three points in this match would keep alive their feint hopes of a top five finish whilst for the visitors, they needed the three points to keep the pressure on League Leaders Kemblawarra Fury who began the day one point 'to the good'.

Right from the off, both sides were prepared to throw caution to the wind with an open attacking style of play the order of the day.

The home side probably had the better of the opening exchanges with Bulli Keeper, Yuya Kawata called on to intervene a number of times inside the first 10 minutes or so but it was Bulli who had the first clear opportunity to score on 16 minutes.

A long throw in from the left, deep inside Port territory, taken by Guy Knight aimed for Ben McDonald, saw the ball flicked on by a Port defender to a spot just outside the six yard box where Julian Minutillo was lurking but the striker's header lacked any real power with Daniel Farina in the Port Goal saving comfortably.

Two minutes later, on their next raid, Port Kembla took the lead with a nice finish from Nicholas Hardy. Adrian Nikolovski did well to find some space wide on the left and his pinpoint cross found Hardy on the edge of the penalty area where he met the ball first time and his low drive was firm enough to find the back of the net despite the despairing dive from Kawata. Better marking in Bulli's defensive third could probably have prevented the goal with far too much latitude given to their opponents in this vital area of the park.

On 22 minutes, Port almost had a second when Nikolovski who loves getting forward, cut in from the left on a surging run that took him past three defenders and only some last ditch defending from Kenji Takahashi prevented him from getting in a shot on goal.

The game was now flowing from end to end as the two sides settled into an open game of football and it was Bulli who threatened next when Sam Davies and Dylan Lewis combined to set up Minutillo whose header from the Lewis cross sailed over the bar from just outside the goal area.

With the ball back up the other end shortly afterwards, Mathew Werakso tried his look from just inside the Bulli half but his lofted effort was comfortably saved by Kuwata.

However, as the game settled down in a flowing pattern, it was the visitors who were carving out the best opportunities and were looking the more likely to score as the half wore on.
Midfielder, Ryan Emerton was unlucky when his shot from the edge of the penalty area hit the crossbar and away to safety after a sweeping attacking move down Bulli's right but it wasn't long before Bulli had their equaliser.

Some more enterprising play, this time down Bulli's left between Ben McDonald and Minutillo, ended with Minutillo drilling a low cross to the far post where Lewis was on hand to apply the finishing touches from close range.

On the stroke of half time, Bulli took the lead with Minutillo and Emerton, who had both been prominent in the first half, involved.

Minutillo had been set free once again down Bulli's left flank with his speed taking him into space with the ball. With a defender approaching, Minutillo slipped the ball inside to the supporting Emerton with the latter dribbling the ball towards the edge of the Port Kembla penalty area in a central position where he unleashed a powerful shot which whizzed into the back of the net with Farina well beaten by the pace of the ball.

After the break, Bulli started the half on the front foot with a number of forays into 'enemy' territory which came to no avail. However, 10 minutes after the re-start it was to be Port who would score an equalising goal against the run of play.

Port's Brooklan Frkovic took a long throw from the right and in the scramble that developed, Hardy got a shot on target which took a deflection and away for a corner. From the ensuing set piece, the cross went to the back post and found Werakso in space where his strike found it's way into goal after rebounding off a defender with a huge slice of luck involved.

With more at stake from Bulli's perspective they kept pushing forward at every opportunity but found Port's five man defensive wall hard to break down at times. A case in point, ten minutes after the leveller, Bulli looked certain to re-take the lead when a mazy run by Minutillo saw the ball delivered to Lewis at the far post but the striker's effort at the gaping goal was miraculously blocked by a lunging tackle from Justin Potter and out for a corner.

The home side continued to repel the Bulli attacking force with a well organised and at times desperate defensive structure. At the 77 minute mark, Lewis tried to bullock his way past three or four defenders deep inside the Port penalty area but seemed to go down a little too easily from a Referee's point of view with penalty claims coming to the fore.

As time ebbed away with just ten minutes left on the clock, the game took a bit of a turn when Bulli's James Kerr was sent from the field of play for Violent Conduct. With the ball out of play for a throw in to Bulli, Kerr inexplicably threw the ball at an opponent with Referee Mazevski, little option but show Kerr a Red Card for his action leaving the visitors a man short to see out the closing stages.

At this point one would have expected Port to get at Bulli with the extra man but the Home side didn't adapt to the situation at all well with the visitors able to keep up the momentum and fashion great chances to snatch a winner.

Two minutes after the send off, Minutillo should have done better with a header at the far post but didn't get enough on it with Farina in the right place at the right time and with the very last kick of the game the League's leading Marksman, Ben McDonald missed a golden opportunity to grab the headlines when Lewis cut the ball back from the by-line to McDonald whose effort was poor, allowing Farina to make a last gasp save right on the goal line.

In the end, after a gripping end to end game of attacking football,the two teams had to settle for a share of the points and overall Port would probably be happy with that. On the other hand Bulli did have enough good chances to collect all three points on offer but for some bad finishing and poor options when in advanced field position.

After the final whistle, Port Kembla Coach Stuart Beedie felt that a draw was a fair result and added that it was a good game of football played by two sides prepared to 'have a real go'. Beedie was disappointed that his side failed to take advantage of the extra man late on.

His counterpart in the visitor's shed, Ben Smith, felt his side did enough to win the game saying that his side created enough opportunities to score but conceded that wrong options didn't help his sides chances. Smith went onto say fair play to Port Kembla who defended really well.

 

Match Stats

Port Kembla 2 (Nicholas Hardy 18',Mathew Werasko 55')

Bulli 2 (Dylan Lewis 26', Ryan Emerton 45+1')

 

Wetherall Park, Primbee

Referee: Bobby Mazevski 

Assistant Referees: Ryan O'Sullivan & Alex Vangelovski

 

Port Kembla: Daniel Farina, Peter Richardson, Adrian Nickolovski, Brooklyn Frkovic, Carlo Stella, Justin Potter, Joseph Lavalle (Douglas Woodiwiss 82'), Jarryd Vinton, Nicholas Hardy Mathew Werakaso, Takao Terramoto (Blake Coates 83').

Subs not Used: Sandy Lowcock, William Mobbs, Aaron Tambakis.

Yellow Card: Carlo Stella 76'

 

Bulli: Yuya Kuwata, Matthew Naylor, Kenji Takahashi, Scott Best, Guy Knight, Jim Kerr, Sam Davies, Ryan Emerton, Ben McDonald, Dylan Lewis, Julian Minutillo.

Subs not Used: Corey Horner, Jared Fish, Lewis Clements, Daniel Carreno, Joao Oliveira

Yellow Card: Guy Knight, Dylan Lewis 63'

Red Card: James Kerr 80'

 

By David Naylor

Photo courtesy of Pedro Garcia