• Williamstown, Altona, Laverton Star

By Luke Sheehan

9th March 2010 11:05:43 AM

Wild … It was a wet and woolly when Sunshine George Cross and Altona Magic battled each other and the elements for a 0-0 draw on Saturday. 44071 Picture: DANIEL FLIZ DVF IMAGES

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ALTONA Magic played out an entertaining 0-0 draw with Sunshine George Cross in persistent rain at Knights Stadium on Sunday night in its round two Victorian Premier League match.

Altona had several chances to open the scoring, but its best opportunity came when Tony Saric was one-on-one with Georgies keeper Martin John in the 57th minute.

Saric’s shot went wide of the goal.

Sunshine’s best chance came in the 69th minute, when striker Fidel Richards latched on to a long ball, took a touch left, then right, before firing his shot at Magic keeper Tommy Tomich, who parried the ball away.

Magic captain Pece Siveski said it was a matter of missed opportunities for his side.

“I think we had the initiative for most part of the game,” he said.

“They play hard, but overall in terms of chances, we probably should have converted one or two, and that should have been enough to win the game.

“We didn’t convert, and that’s the way it goes.”

Siveski said his side was able to break through the George Cross defence in the second half, as the game opened up, with both sides looking for a deadlock-breaking goal.

“They pretty much left themselves open at the back, they pushed up a bit more in the second half, and allowed us to counter-attack with a bit more space up forward, which we didn’t capitalise on.

“It was the same as last week (against South Melbourne), that’s why we didn’t get the points. We’ve just got to learn from these tactical lapses.” Sunshine coach Andy O’Dell said the draw was a fair result for both sides in torrid conditions.

“Yeah, I’m very happy with a point considering the conditions, we had to be,” he said.

“I thought Altona played better than us. We had a couple of chances, they had a couple of chances, it could have gone either way.”

O’Dell said given the slippery conditions, a single goal would have been enough to sway the result.

“I said at half-time, if someone’s going to win it, it’s going to be a 1-0 game. It will be a silly mistake, or a back pass gets stuck in the water, but credit to them, and credit to us, we didn’t concede. Fair result.”

O’Dell said his back four and goalkeeper Martin John were superb in denying the attacking Magic.

“(The defence was under) constant pressure, head it, kick it, just defend, just basics really, it was nothing flash. It rained from start to finish, so to not concede I’m delighted.”

Altona travels to Bentleigh’s Kingston Heath Soccer Complex on Friday night, kick-off at 8.30pm, while Sunshine takes on Melbourne Knights this Sunday at Knights Stadium, kick-off at 6pm.

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