Points Shared In Round 15
Written by Antonis Pangonis
Most NPL SA fans would be backing the MetroStars to win any game in Season 2023 that sees Jame Temelkovski get the opportunity to open the scoring fro the penalty spot, but Round 15 strayed from the script.
Temelkovski’s early penalty, given away by Tomas Greco, was saved by Gianni Tramontin and just three minutes later Patrick Caraccia shocked the crowd at T.K. Shutter Reserve by opening the scoring for Croydon FC.
The MetroStars applied pressure before and after the halftime break in search of an equaliser, but astoundingly it was Croydon’s Tom Visser that curled home his side’s second goal to put the league leaders well and truly on the ropes. Travis Dodd’s men absorbed the home side’s forthcoming advances but were unable to clear a Christian D’Angelo’s header from the goalline in the 78th minute which allowed the MetroStars back in the game.
Two minutes later, Christian Esposito’s cross was turned in by a Croydon defender for an own goal and suddenly the MetroStars were level. Cam Woodfin thought he was the night’s hero after a Tramontin save fell his way and he tapped into an open net, but the goal was ruled out for offside, sparing Croydon’s blushes heading into its Federation Cup Semi-Final and ensuring the MetroStars dropped points on home soil for the first time since April.
Overall, this was an exciting gane which was made even better by the two clubs coming together to celebrate their annual Indigenous Round matchup, with specially made shirts for the occasion and a smoking ceremony.
MetroStars 2 (D'Angelo, TOG)
Croydon 2
Image credit - Ken Carter
*This match report is written by a third party and not written by MetroStars. We thank Antonis for his match reports.
.png)
.png)