Jason Rand and his Berwick City team-mates managed to salvage a 1-1 draw against North Caulfield on Saturday. By Paul Pickering
A BAIL-OUT goal from Matthew Nitz allowed Berwick City to salvage a 1-1 draw from its trip to North Caulfield on Saturday.
The Lions were coming off a rousing 4-1 victory over local rival Endeavour United the previous weekend, but started poorly in the State League Division Three South-East clash at Caulfield Park.
In an underwhelming opening, City gifted North Caulfield a series of golden opportunities, and the home side eventually broke through to register the first goal courtesy of Dion Esterman.
An uncharacteristically aggressive performance from North Caulfield afforded the Lions their share of chances to equalise in the first half, but they failed to capitalise.
Just as it seemed the points were slipping away, Nitz stepped in to provide a typically emphatic strike midway through the second half.
His quality finish established a deadlock that could not be broken – despite chances for both sides – in the final 25 minutes.
While some coaches may have been content with the one point away from home, City boss Joe Carroll said he had come to expect more of his charges.
“Maybe I’m one-eyed, but I feel like we’ve got so much talent that we should be winning every week,” he said.
“By the way we started off, and the number of chances they missed, they could have easily been two goals up.
“But, in the second half we had just as many chances as they had, and eventually we just had to score.”
Carroll is now aiming to secure maximum points from three consecutive home games at Jack Thomas Reserve.
The first will come against a red-hot Heatherton United this Saturday.
Meanwhile, Doveton also fought out a 1-1 away draw – theirs against struggling Sandringham City.
The Doves took the lead with a goal to Veresa Toma in the first half, but Sandringham responded in the second to square the ledger.
Doveton is now sitting in ninth place ahead of this Saturday’s local derby against Endeavour United at Waratah Reserve.
United’s battles continued with a 1-0 loss to Southern Suburbs on Saturday, and it will be desperate to rise from the bottom of the divisional table.
In Division Two South-East, the Casey Comets travelled to Stonnington City and were outclassed 3-0.
Casey will host Chelsea at Comets Stadium on Saturday.
