An injury time equaliser from Balcatta Etna’s Darius Ghinea rescued a deserved point for the home side at Home Group Stadium last night after it looked like Perth SC had done enough to take maximum points from the contest.
Ghinea’s 94th minute free-kick was hit straight into the wall but deflected off the back of jumping Azzurri defender Coby Sutton and into the right hand corner of the net.
On balance, it was probably a fair result given the amount of chances Balcatta had over 90+ minutes, but the Azzurri would have felt that it was another two points that have slipped through their hands given the circumstances.
Ghinea also opened the scoring for Etna in the 50th minute after he was played in behind the Azzurri defence by Declan Hudson.
Perth SC equalised 16 minutes later with a well crafted goal. Some fantastic interplay between David Ninkovich and Ethan Banks on the left led to Banks cutting the ball back where Josh Cala came steaming in from right back and struck from the top of the box and into the back of the net, via a deflection.
The Azzurri hit the lead in the 78th minute from Abdul Osman’s corner. Sutton’s initial header was well saved by Etna keeper Stefan Sotirovski but he could do nothing to stop Sammie Riak’s strike on the rebound from close range.
It was a much better second half from Perth SC after being outplayed by the home side in the first half. The score remained level at the break only due to Balcatta spurning some great chances and excellent goalkeeping by Azzurri keeper Matuesz Zaniewski.
Former Perth SC striker Hasani Sinclair hit the bar from inside the six yard box in the 23rd minute after getting on the end of a cross from Matthew Tomassone and Leon’s Giglia’s strike 12 minutes later was well saved by Zaniewski, who got down low to his left to push the ball past the post for a corner.
Balcatta also had a couple of golden opportunities in the second half. Zaniewski saved well from Tomassone four minutes after Balcatta had taken the lead. Jonathan Stynes should have done better after Zaniewski had spilled a cross when the score was 1-1 and Luke Alessandrino’s header from point blank range went over the bar a minute later.
The draw keeps Perth SC (17 points) in sixth place on the NPLM ladder, three points behind fourth placed Perth RedStar and two behind fifth placed Armadale SC. The Azzurri travels to 11th placed Fremantle City next week for the latest edition of the D’orsogna Cup.