BATHURST City Colts came within minutes of achieving a memorable win while down a player in Sunday’s Bathurst District Football Association match against Cowra at Proctor Park.
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Colts had to settle for a 2-all draw with Cowra after the visitors were given a second attempt at a spot kick in the dying stages of the match.
Bathurst goalkeeper Thomas Hopkins saved the initial attempt on goal but was deemed to be off his line, which allowed Cowra’s Brendan Munday another shot.
Munday put his second strike out of Hopkins’ reach to level the game.
Having to start the game with 10 players due to a shortage in availability, Colts were just moments away from taking one of the hardest-earned wins of their season.
“Our ball control was probably some of the best that we’ve had all season. I think for the majority of the match we controlled it,” Colts captain Nathan Shurmer said.
“We were unlucky there with a couple of tough calls but it happens.”
It only took a few minutes for the hosts to take the lead when Jason Woodyatt found an easy tap-in.
Colts thought they had doubled their advantage but a Jye Fleischmann header was overturned due to obstructing the goalkeeper.
Cowra’s numbers advantage was evident as they spent more time in possession and enjoyed the better field position as the first half went on.
Will Baker’s shot 15 minutes in came close to levelling the scores but was just left of the goal.
Two separate Zac Kerr strikes kept Hopkins on edge, the first of which glanced off the crossbar.
Then, in a similar situation to Fleischmann’s earlier header attempt, Cowra’s Chris Baratto went up for one of his own and put the ball over Hopkins to make it 1-all at half-time.
Colts made a statement just four minutes into the second half when Greg Adams was on hand to blast a close-range shot home.
With 25 minutes to play, Kirby Earle was handed a red card for an incident with Kerr.
Cowra also lost Kerr from the scrap when he was shown his second yellow card of the match.
With a 10-against-nine situation in their favour, the visitors forced the Colts into a much more defensive and counterattack-orientated game.
Colts were not able to withstand the pressure 10 minutes out from full-time when Munday scored his penalty.
The hosts were limited to long-range balls in the run home as they held on against a Cowra team determined to pinch a late goal.
BATHURST CITY COLTS 2 (Jason Woodyatt, Greg Adams) drew COWRA 2 (Chris Baratto, Brendan Munday)
