James Murphy
THE opening round of Limestone Coast soccer concluded over the weekend, following Tuesday’s Anzac Day games between International and Gambier Centrals.
In a rare turn of events, the two senior men’s games on Sunday resulted in a draw and points were shared at both venues.
Over at Malseed Park the Blue Lake hosts made a second-half comeback against a visiting Apollo.
Apollo had the best of the opening term and scored two goals, both off the boot of Gay Nay Say Ler.
The second came just before half time and put the guests in a good place heading into the second leg.
However, a renewed effort from the Rangers put the pressure on and after some back-and-forth play Meereh Htoo converted early to make it a one-goal game.
From there an arm wrestle unfolded, with the next goal – the equaliser – not scored until the 76th minute.
That came from Shar Nay Than, in his first appearance against his former club, levelling the scores at two-all.
They stayed locked until the final whistle and the game of two halves fittingly had no victor.
Over at Naracoorte the home team hosted Millicent in a physical contest.
At the end of the day the two teams shared the points with a three-all scoreline.
The writing was on the wall early that a tight encounter could be on the table.
Naracoorte opened the ledger with a goal from Takbirullah Ahmadi in the fifth minute, but Millicent coach Mathew Grgetic replied soon after to keep the game in the balance.
A penalty to Brett Dibley a few minutes later put Millicent in front and they would stay there until half time.
A couple of cards were dealt in the lead up to the break as intensity levels started to rise.
Another penalty came early in the second half and Millicent’s Omar Ryan slotted it through to give the guests a 3-1 lead.
However, Naracoorte refused to bow down and pulled themselves back into the game over the next 20 minutes.
A goal to Murtaza Jafary and then Charles Kelly levelled the score at three-all, with 16 minutes left to play.
Neither team could break the deadlock in that time and at the end of the day were forced to share the points.
As such there was only one winner for Round 1 which leaves Inter on top of the table.
As for the 2022 premiers, they sit on the bottom but with a Round 2 meeting with Millicent, the Lions will hope to put a win on the board and kickstart their title defence.
Inter hosts Blue Lake in another test for the new-look Rangers, while Apollo hits the road to play Naracoorte.
