A 10-man Melville City battled to a deserved 1-1 draw with Balga SC amidst torrential rain at Princess Reserve.
After leading at the break, Melville withstood a second-half barrage from its high-flying opponents and a red card to Logan McIsaac to leave with a valuable point.
It was a game of two halves, with Melville looking more likely to score for long passages of the opening 45 minutes despite heavy rain.
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READ NOWAnastasis Forsalas was kept busy, making a good save from Louie Granich before tipping over Sherwin Tucker’s curling strike.
The levee broke just before the break, when Alastair Campbell whipped in a corner and an off-balance Denis Pekovic could only head the ball into his own net.
Balga returned from the interval with a point to prove and after early pressure, Alen Patarov levelled the scores with a tidy finish off a post.
City almost took back the lead immediately, only for Fasalas to pull off a tremendous double save from Granich and Tucker.
Balga had the ascendency and only the actions of Mirko Grgurinovic in goals denied Patarov and Hubert Hakuzina from taking the lead for the hosts.
Melville’s task became tougher when McIsaac was given a straight red for obstruction with 15 minutes remaining, but Grgurinoivc stood tall amongst a wave of Balga attacks.
Naumovski had one late chance to nab victory at the death, but his header sailed over and Melville left with a share of the points.