Sunshine George Cross came from behind twice to equalise with Werribee City on Sunday afternoon at Galvin Park.
The contest marked the first time Con Karagiannis was assistant on the sidelines to Sunshine head coach Tony Ciantar after Franz Wiemper’s departure.
The hosts kicked off proceedings in the fourth minute when young centre back Daniel Pioveson nestled his header in the top corner, too high for Illija Manojlovic to clear off the line.
Despite going a goal down, George Cross began to surge forward, piling the pressure on Werribee’s back four.
It paid off when Ahmet Turer equalised on the quarter of the hour mark, finding space to turn inside the box and put it past the outstretched Saric. The visitors continued to maintain the attack for the remainder of the half.
Sunshine’s Nathan Liberto was causing Weribee’s fullback Tony Stojkovski trouble down the left side, forcing Saric into a strong save when played in behind by Juso Juraldzija, only to be denied by the Werribee custodian.
Sunshine came close again through Liberto when his shot flashed wide of the Saric’s far post.
Werribee also had their fair share of chances in the first half, both through Dom Marafioti.
He fired a shot just over the bar after a failed clearance from Sunshine goalkeeper Senad Ahmetovic, before coming close again from the dead ball only, for his shot to skim over the crossbar to Ahmetovic’s relief.
Sunshine were denied a goal when Martin Mason’s shot on goal was headed over the bar via his own captain Chris Dib, who was attempting to knock it on into the net.
Sunshine came close again just before half time when Ahmet Turer played in Adrian Logozzo, where he slashed his left foot shot past the post only for Saric to watch on.
The sides went into half time locked in at 1-1 with a lot to play for in the second half.
Sunshine came close again just after half time when Liberto got in behind Stojkovski again and opted to cut the ball back to Turer, only to have his outstretched shot blocked by Martin and cleared away by Nem Govedaruca.
Werribee punished George Cross for not taking their chances when Robert Naumoski tucked his shot away on the hour mark. Some sloppy defensive play led to O’Connell’s clearance ricocheting into Naumoski’s path, who made no mistake putting Werribee back in the lead.
Despite George Cross falling behind again they were able to find an equaliser yet again through Adrian Logozzo. Substitute Ryan Dragovic managed to find space in behind the back four for only for Saric to block the save, with Adrian Logozzo nodding home at Sunshine’s second time of asking.
The draw sees Sunshine and Werribee remain at the bottom of the ladder still looking for their first win of the season – George Cross host the in-form Melbourne City next week, while Werribee are away to the struggling Bendigo City.
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Werribee City 2 (Piovesan 4’, Naumoski 61’) drew with Sunshine George Cross 2 (Turer 15’, Logozzo 75’) at Galvin Park, Werribee.
Werribee City: Jonathan VOULGARIS, Tony STOJKOVSKI, Angus MARTIN, Anthony SARIC, Domenico MARAFIOTI, Daniel PIOVESAN, Robert NAUMOSKI, Zach AHMED, Nemanja GOVEDARUCA, Bobby VIDANOSKI, Julian CASSANO.
Sunshine George Cross: Senad AHMETOVIC, Liam O’CONNELL, Martin MASON, Christopher DIB, Illija MANOJLOVIC, Chris GROSSMAN, Samuel McCALL, Juso JULARDZIJA, Adrian LOGOZZO (Daniel MAHER 89’), Nathan LIBERTO, Ahmet TURER (Ryan DRAGOVIC 71’).
Unused Subs: Matthew JONES, Hristian NASTEVSKI, Jack PALAZZOLO
Feature image: Mark Avellino