The battle to avoid relegation got a little bit more interesting on Saturday night when the Western Mariners were held to 1-all draw with Stanmore Hawks in their State League One match at Glen Willow Stadium.

A win in first grade would have pushed Western off the bottom of the club championship standings, but instead they will continue to battle it out with Camden and Nepean in the final rounds.

Western coach Andrew Fearnley said it was a tight race to avoid relegation.

“Personally I think we are in a race with Nepean. Camden are getting enough points to survive,” Fearnley said.

“You look at it and you think we don’t have anything to play for because we are at the bottom end of the table, but for me, the point in ones is good because you don’t want to finish last in first grade and not last in club champs.

“The 18s and 20s getting points, and if you look at it that’s 13 points on the day. It takes us above Camden and Nepean, but obviously they play [on Sunday]. We had to get some points and that certainly helps.”

Western could have taken all three points in Saturday’s game if they didn’t blow their late scoring opportunities.

Following an entertaining first half, the second 45 minutes didn’t quite live up to the same expectations until the final few moments of the game.

Both teams tested the goalkeepers, but it was the Mariners who had the better of the opportunities.

The best was Chris New-Tolley in the 88th minute who kicked the ball to the right of the goals despite the Hawks’ goalkeeper out of position.

“We had chances to make it three points, but we weren’t clinical enough in front of goal,” Fearnley said.

Stanmore opened the scoring with a penalty when Thibault Marchal was taken out by Western goalkeeper Christopher Howarth.

Referee Kris Griffiths-Jones, an official who has A-League experience, pointed to the spot and issued a yellow card to the Mariners’ glove-man.

Hawks captain Neil Philippou made no mistake with the dot shot.

On the 18th minute mark a long range free kick from Mariner John Rimmer almost ended in the back of the net, but Matt Corben couldn’t generate enough power from his flick-on header attempt.

Another shot on goal by John Henry was saved by the Stanmore goalkeeper a minute later before New-Tolley excited the crowd.

At the top of the left corner of the box, New-Tolley curled the ball with a right foot kick just enough to end up in the top right hand corner for a 1-all score line.

Both teams tested the goalkeepers with many shots either saved or just off the mark.

The Hawks had two opportunities to score late in the half, but stuffed both of them when they were one-on-one with the Mariners’ goalkeeper.

Another Rimmer long bomb from a free kick midway through the second half almost ended up in the net, but it missed everyone and everything.

It was one of the few highlights of the second half until the 85th minute mark.

Stanmore had a chance to score with a free kick just outside the top of their box but Philippou’s shot went straight into Howarth’s arms.

That was Stanmore’s last chance before New-Tolley missed his at the other end.

WESTERN MARINERS 1 (Chris New-Tolley) drew with STANMORE HAWKS 1 (Neil Philippou)