Johnson steals point for Eagles

MARK TAYLOR

Coniston Lions would consider themselves extremely unfortunate not to collect all three points in their Friday night Illawarra Soccer Association Premier League encounter against APWE when they succombed to a last gasp equaliser from English import Adam Johnson.

The precious three points that seemed to be secure after a good first half performance were ripped away from the Lions after a strong fight back from the 2007 Grand Final Winners.

Cono looked to be well on the way to an upset win when they went to the half time break with a two goal lead courtesy of goals from Devon Bonne and Ile Kostovski.

However, they were unable to withstand a grand stand finish by the visitors as firstly they got back into the match when David Graovac scored from the spot midway through the second period.

Just as the crowd were making their way to the exit up popped Johnson with the dramatic leveller deep into stoppage time to deny the Lions a valuable win with the final score at 2-2.

There were a couple of six point contests at the relegation end of the table decided in Round 10, with Picton Rangers and Dapto grabbing valuable wins.

Picton Rangers welcomed Bulli to Hume Oval in a vital contest at the bottom end of the table.

The home side went into the encounter on 10 points, one point outside the bottom two with Bulli two points better off.

This shaped up as a must win for both clubs and it was Rangers who came out on top 2-0.

There was very little between the two sides throughout the 90 minutes but a goal to Trevor Dinham in the first half and another from IPL Leading Goalscorer, Andrew Borg in the second got the points for Picton.

In another bottom of the table clash Dapto just did enough to shake off a determined Tarrawanna side to also win 2-0 and snatch some much needed breathing space.

The goalkeepers were very much to the fore in this match up for different reasons.

Tarra came close to scoring early on when Kyle Sutton was unlucky to see his shot come back off the post and away to safety.

However, the Blueys found themselves behind the eight ball on the half hour mark.

Christian Pretto, ex-Dapto keeper but these days, in goal for Tarrawanna made a hash of things when he raced out of goals and upended, quite unnecessarily, a Dapto attacker who was going nowhere out near the edge of the eighteen yard box.

This decision by Pretto gave Referee Herbert his easiest decision of the match has he pointed to the penalty spot.

Chad Bishop made no mistake to put the visitors 1-0 to the good.

Bishop thought he had given his side a two goal lead on the stroke of half time when he curled a lovely free kick into the top right hand corner of the net. One problem - the free kick was an indirect one. Tarra off the hook.

In the second period Tarrawanna lay siege to the Dapto end in search for the equaliser. Unfortunately for them they found young Dapto custodian, Reece Kawalla, in outstanding form between the sticks.

Time and time again when the Dapto goal was under sustained pressure, Kawalla was up to the challenge to deny Tarra the goal they probably deserved on the balance of play.

It was not to be and Bishop scored his second for the match with virtually the last kick of the game to leave the final score of 2-0.

The feature match of the Round between Port Kembla and Dandaloo was a fairly even affair played at a frenetic pace.

The game really needed someone to put their foot on the ball in the middle of the park to slow things down a bit and allow for some structured build up.

The decisive goal came midway through the second half when Anthony Guido got his head to the ball from a free kick which was swung in, to allow him to nod home from eight metres.

Dandaloo probably just shaded proceedings to gather the three points but had to rely on a fine save from Scott Whalan to deny Matt Sini scoring from close range with only two or three minutes left on the clock.

One-nil to the Orange and they have moved ahead of Port on goal difference to be three points off the pace, with surprise packet Fernhill leading the pack on 23 points.